Entries by Jonathan
What we’re up to – Jan 21st edition
Things are so hectic we’ve rather forgotten to tell everyone what we’re up to. Here’s the run-down as of this afternoon, Wednesday 21st January 2015, 1400 GMT (you’ll have to imagine the bong! sounds, or if that means nothing to you, here’s the News at Ten opening from the 1970s to play while reading): Carol and Joe are back […]
First delivery of the year
One of the dubious joys of starting a project from scratch is that you have to order everything. Pens, pencils. Microscopes. Soldering irons. Infra-red cameras. Meteorite samples. A cubic metre of snow globes. You name it, we’ve filled in the purchase order form for it. Which means the next joy is receiving exciting deliveries every day. A parade […]
Tinkering Thursday: 18th December, a tale of two wave types
A simple Tinkering Thursday this week as we start to – let’s be honest – tidy the office so it’s not quite such a heap when we return in early January. Carol produced a lovely little ripple tank which had apparently been in one of the many cardboard boxes strewn around the office, and we proceeded to […]
Tinkering Thursday: 11th December
In the photograph above, Joe is pointing a telescope at the sun. Two things about this are remarkable: It’s December, we’re in Newcastle, and we actually saw the sun today. Joe can still see. We all know – obviously – that looking at the sun through telescopes, binoculars, even cameras is, in general, a really really bad idea. But let’s be clear, […]
Filming: Metalwork
We’re collaborating with the North-East Chamber of Commerce to produce a series of careers case-study films. I’ll avoid saying too much about it (is it hush-hush? I’m not sure…), but to the left is our first interviewee and below right, our second. Yes, it’s all a little high-powered. Filming Jacqui involved a trip up to her company’s factory […]
Tinkering Thursday: 4th December
This week Think Lab has been playing host to a delegation of Chinese architects – hey, it’s all go here – so we set to work in our office instead. We already have a hundred snow globes strewn around the place, what harm is there in adding a little craft mess?
Try this personality type test
No idea where you’re headed? This personality survey at the Guardian today might offer you some ideas. Two warnings: The test is sponsored by a life insurance company. It suggests I should seriously consider wedding planning as a career, which doesn’t quite line up with anything I might remotely enjoy ever ever ever. What I do like about it is […]
Tinkering Thursday: Soap Bubble Viewing
We’ve been exploring a novel way of viewing the colour fringes created by curved soap films, with fairly dramatic results. This is a quick test time-lapse with only very minor processing – the camera really did see colours this dramatic. In a week or two we’ll write up an activity based around this, but if you’re particularly keen you can probably […]
