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Home > News > Science on a shoestring

Science on a shoestring

Berkeley Engineer Spring 2012
May 1, 2012
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Spring 2012
  • In this issue

    Features

    Winging it

    Sensors

    Engineers Without Borders

    Dean’s Word

    Upfront

    • New tenants at Richmond Field Station
    • Washington calling
    • Big theory comes to campus
    • It starts with a stove
    • What’s next?
    • Science on a shoestring
    • Q+A on excellence in diversity
    • Understanding energy by degrees
    • Comments

    Breakthroughs

    • Told in tears
    • Powerboost
    • Slow going
    • Startup incubator
    • Green governor
    • Molecular Legos
    • Putting water online

    Alumni notes

    • Hats off
    • Seeds of social change
    • Girls meet “the science of better”
    • Farewell

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Homemade magnetic stirrerMagnetic stirrer commonly used in labs to make homogenous liquid mixtures, like buffer solutions or microbial growth media. This battery-powered design can mix up to one liter of solution and allows for reproducible mixing over hours. A typical lab-grade magnetic stirrer costs about $250. This one costs $30. (Photo courtesy Tekla Labs)Lina Nilsson is addressing the frustrations of the world’s underfunded scientists. Nilsson, a bioengineering post-doctoral researcher, and her colleagues set up a collective called Tekla Labs. Operating under the premise that basic lab equipment doesn’t need to be prohibitively expensive, they design low-cost scientific instruments out of basic DIY hardware. The resulting plans and construction manuals are available for free on their website. See more at teklalabs.org.

Topics: Devices & inventions, International
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