A motley collection of ideas
Every day, dozens of tiny, invisible instruments rise above our heads. Weather radiosondes that collect data from the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere, then a few hours later quietly disappear somewhere above fields, forests, and villages. The signals from these sondes can be received by anyone — and that’s where the exciting world … Read more
I wanted a simple, inexpensive antenna for my Little Airshow Radio. The 108–137 MHz range is the VHF airband, where the wavelength is roughly 2.18 m to 2.73 m. That means any resonant antenna designed for this range tends to be physically large. If you’re looking for a small, portable solution, you’ll need to make a few compromises. … Read more
Radiosondes fall back to Earth every day. Most people never notice them. With a small, purpose-built receiver like the MySondy Go, you can not only notice them, but actively track, decode, and recover them. This article documents our build of a MySondy Go device, including a custom-designed 3D‑printed enclosure optimised for real-world field use. Why … Read more
I have a plasma globe that I received about 15 years ago to create illustrations for an article. One day I showed interesting experiments with it, but now I would like to write about why the globe broke down. As is well known, the plasma globe (or Tesla globe) is a decorative glass sphere filled … Read more
The journey to Mars is approximately 480 million kilometers long and takes seven to eight months to complete. This raises a multitude of challenges, one of which is the provisioning of food for the crew. If we cannot carry sufficient supplies with us, is it possible to grow plants in space? How do plants develop … Read more
Typotex Publishing, 2025304 pages, 5500 HUF Artificial intelligence is not a new phenomenon, but large language models (LLMs) have propelled it into pop culture. Today many people call themselves “AI experts,” even though no one yet sees clearly how this technology will integrate into everyday life; everyone is still experimenting with what these tools can … Read more
Below is a cheap automatic bird feeder you can build in 20–30 minutes from household materials with a few simple tools. Why winter feeding matters Winter can be a lean season for small birds: short days, cold nights, and snow or ice can make natural food harder to find. A simple feeder can help birds … Read more