Happy Valentine’s Day! Looking for something more special than “just” a bunch of flowers? Read my post at the “Annals of Botany” blog to find out how to make rainbow roses. http://aobblog.com/2012/02/roses-are-red-but-they-dont-need-to-be-if-you-know-how-to-use-food-dyes-and-fibonacci/ A rainbow rose. Photo by Ryan Amos
I am a big Etsy addict and could spend hours browsing the Treasury or bead suppliers. But most of all, I love discovering unique and unusual shops – just like “your friendly neighbourhood organ grinder“! Surely the only thing missing on your mantlepiece is this charming little Brain Invader Worm in its own little jar. If you prefer something more visually appealing, maybe this embroidered plant cell suits your taste better. It contains all the important small organs (or organelles) it needs to function properly. Or how about a plant cell brooch? Can you identify all...
Terrariums are miniature low-maintenance gardens growing in glass containers of all shapes and sizes. Ideal for plant lovers with not much time, space and/or with overflowing creativity. A very easy project and a completely different Christmas decoration is this terrarium ornament, made with real “alley plants”. Here is another tutorial, using small bottle brush trees and moss. Try adding little plastic figurines such as angels, reindeer, owls, copious amounts of glitter or snow or use glow-in-the-dark polymer clay to create your own decorations. If you love these ornaments but do not feel very crafty – or if you are...
Rumour has it that there was a hint of snow in Oxford yesterday. I didn’t see it because I was trapping in a laser lab without windows at the Central Laser Facility (no, that’s not a grammatical error, it’s a geeky word play – I was trapping Golgi bodies with optical tweezers). Anyway, since winter has now very officially arrived, I have made a little something for all you plant organelle fans out there: a wintery wallpaper which you can download and which will hopefully make you smile every time you turn on your computer. It’s the vacuole, a...
Baubles, stars and angels…traditional Christmas ornaments are beautiful, but the geek inside me always stomps her feet and screams for something a little bit different. Therefore I was delighted when I found Audrey Jeanne’s tutorial for microscopy slide Christmas ornaments. In fairness, any craft tutorial which contains the ingredient “glitter in assorted colors and sizes” will grab my immediate attention! Searching on Etsy for “microscope slide” collage sheets or digital images will give you lots of options, or just use fancy wrapping paper, fabrics, wallpaper cuts…These would also make nice Xmas gifts when packed into a pretty little cardboard...
The Science Museum in London is an amazing place. There are so many things to discover, interactive exhibitions to explore and of course tons of knowledge to soak up. Or, you can just wander around and simply enjoy the collection of obvious, unusual and sometimes bizarre things – such as a lunch box for lunch and poo. Yes, you read that right: A lunch box with a divider to carry your lunch to school and bring your poo back. Why on earth would you want to do that, you might ask now. This fictional object explores the possibility of...
Deep in my heart I am hoping for a future in which Ebola, Salmonella and Rabies will be readily available in every toy store. … Of course I am assuming that by now everyone has heard of the giant plush microbes and that the above statement isn’t nearly as shocking as I hoped it would be. (By the way, I hadn’t seen these Christmas Microbe Tree Ornaments until writing this post. Get a bunch of them now and be all smug about having sorted out your christmas presents in May!). There is however a distinct lack of plush plant...
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