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Weird Science Offered As University Class

Posted by kdawson on from the matter-of-degree dept.

ludwigvan968 writes "The ACTLab at the University of Texas at Austin is making waves with its Weird Science class. The link is to the TA's blog with documentation of some of the projects: a laser harp, a 3D environment constructed with fog and an LCD projector, and a 'water bridge' using a 50,000-volt transformer. Next semester, they're introducing a new class called 'Disruptive Technologies.'"

4 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Cool Stuff by j_kenpo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I remember when I was working for a production company, a buddy of mine would always do stuff like this. We made a smoke cannon similar to the one shown there using an old PA speaker, some plastic cones, and a fog machine. The PA speaker pushed the fog through the cones making the smoke rings. We were going to build a large one, but never did. We also talked about doing something similar to the LCD/smoke projector with a large DLP projector when they first came out to experiment on replacing the aging atmospheric effect laser projectors. Of course, it still wasn't as impressive as a 10 watt white light laser with a color changing crystal. But its cool to see people out there playing with some of this kind of stuff. The water bridge was friggin cool.

  2. Anthony Michael Hall by techstar25 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unless it's taught by Anthony Michael Hall, you can forget about it.

  3. Re:education revolution by doodlyoodly · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That would complete the circle ... since most of these projects were 'lifted' from youtube in the first place.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMLop6MIwUU
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBn1ozht-E

    I have some teachers that would love this - "OK kids, go to youtube, steal an idea and make it. I'll be in the chemistry cupboard.

  4. Re:Baseless assertion? by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Care to respond or are we all going to just let these anachronistic and misogynistic myths perpetuate ad infinitum?

    Can we all join the fun?

    My wife is smarter than me, more fit, better educated and a better programmer. I'm just barely more qualified with networks and architecture, and I'm definitely less of a cook. I have an extraordinary amount of respect for her.

    But if I ever accused her of being a rational being, she'd break my cranium, and then subtly change something to keep me off balance.

    See? Geeks do know about women. Just not very much.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear