Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave...with a box of scraps!

December 19, 2017 7:11 AM

X-ray your finger with scotch tape. Or run ADSL over a wet string.
posted by leotrotsky (13 comments total)

Or fold a microscope out of paper.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:21 AM on December 19, 2017

Or a chemistry set run like a music box.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:24 AM on December 19, 2017

That wet string may be faster than some ISPs....
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:25 AM on December 19, 2017

Just learned the term "triboluminescence." My day is complete.
posted by MrGuilt at 7:32 AM on December 19, 2017 [6 favorites]

Yessss, so delightfully MacGyvery.

Seems like the wet string and the scotch tape tinkerers both have senses of humor I enjoy:

“They’re taken with Scotch tape, so there’s room for improvement,” says Camara.
&
As a bonus, fit tin cans to both ends and you get voice as well as broadband on the same wet string!
posted by theatro at 8:05 AM on December 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

A few years ago, I tried to establish a connection between two standard Western Electric telephones using two tin cans and string, but I failed.
I'm retiring today, so now I will have more time to spend on my research.
Thanks for the inspiration.
posted by MtDewd at 9:32 AM on December 19, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm retiring today, so now I will have more time to spend on my research.

This is exactly the sort of content I want to see on Projects!
posted by Sequence at 9:37 AM on December 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Huh. MIT won't let me look at their site in incognito mode. Oh, well, guess no scotch tape tricks for me!
posted by tavella at 9:52 AM on December 19, 2017

Or, use barbed wire to talk to the farmer next door. Or maybe network the farms together.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:07 AM on December 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Australians can absolutely confirm that wet-string ADSL is a strategy.
posted by prismatic7 at 6:10 PM on December 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just learned the term "triboluminescence."

Triboluminescence is also what makes Wint-O-Green LifeSavers spark when you bite them. (I stopped doing that when I heard about the totally awesome scotch tape field x-ray machine hack)
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 7:03 PM on December 19, 2017

I can't read that first link because the site keeps insisting that I stop private/incognito browsing, which I'm not. And also, wtf, technology site, if people wants to go private you should not prevent them from reading your site.
posted by numaner at 3:37 PM on December 20, 2017

here's a nature.com article about it which I assume have the same information, and also a video
posted by numaner at 3:43 PM on December 20, 2017