The 3D Printed Gun

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It was inevitable. And now we need to figure out what to do about it.

I could imagine people watching ABC news tonight and being introduced to the notion of 3D printing (“Huh? That’s a thing?”) while at the same time told the news that they can now print out their own handgun.

This report is less than a week after an announcement at the other end of the ethical spectrum that a bio-fabrication unit (to research the use of 3D printing to construct human organs) is being opened at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital.

And it will be only a matter of time when ABC news reports the first shooting in the world involving a 3D printed handgun. (Possibly from a home-maker having it blow up in their face.)

It was an easy thing to find Cody Wilson’s Defence Distributed website and download my own copy of the Liberator handgun.

A component from the Liberator 3D printed gun.

A component from the Liberator 3D printed gun.

And if I could do that within a few minutes, then there will be scores of others out right now printing up their own plastic gun components.

Of course, this would be illegal in Australia.

My immediate concern is not that there is a new (and currently unregulated) source of firearms. This was an inevitable eventuality in the 3D printing field. Instead, I am concerned that 3D printing fledgling, and all of the potential uses at home, education, and especially health, would be stifled by knee-jerk reactions from our public officials.

The way forward is not immediately obvious, but a discussion needs to be started so that we can hack and experiment with 3D printing responsibly.

Australian International Documentary Conference videography

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Just recently was Documentary Week in Adelaide, and I volunteered to be the videographer at the Australian International Documentary Conference. The following are the eleven AIDC Bites I produced, talking to documentary makers and distributers about today’s trends in documentary production.

AIDC Bites #1 // The Importance of Character
Suzi Taylor (Fingerprint Productions) asks Steve Burns (Rollercoaster Road Productions) about the importance of having a good character in your documentary series.

AIDC Bites #2 // The Perfect Pitch!
Pat Ferns (Ferns Productions) explains the Perfect Pitch.

AIDC Bites #3 // Trends in China
Steven Seidenberg (LIC-BCBC China) tells Peter Hamilton (DocumentaryTelevision.com) about the trends he sees in documentary distribution in China.

AIDC Bites #4 // A Short History of “The Pitch”
Pat Ferns again (Ferns Productions), this time explaining the history of the pitch session, which has become an anchor of documentary events worldwide.

AIDC Bites #5 // Documentary Distribution in our Digitized World
Tim Sparke (Mercury Media International) tells Sam Collins (Sam Collins Media) about the future of distributing documentaries on new digital platforms.

AIDC Bites #6 // Screen Territory in the Northern Territory, Australia
Penelope McDonald (Screen Territory) gives an overview of television audiences in the Northern Territory.

AIDC Bites #7 // Documentary making for the Classroom
Andrew Pike (Ronin Films) tells about how the education market is for documentary makers like an open field for a stallion to run free.

AIDC Bites #8 // New Trends in Children’s Factual Television
Thierry Bled (ABC Children’s Television) outlines the growing trends in factual television for children.

AIDC Bites #9 // Documentaries in 3D?
Torsten Hoffmann (3D Content Hub) tells us that 3D is not yet dead, that it is a slow burn for producers to look out for.

AIDC Bites #10 // Documentary Ethics
David Tiley (Screen Hub) outlines the evolving ethics with making documentaries today.

AIDC Bites #11 // A Conference Wrap-up
Peter Hamilton (DocumentaryTelevision.com) gives a wrap-up of the 2013 Australian International Documentary Conference.

Squishy Circuits

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Yesterday I retweeted a tweet for a Squishy Circuits project page and mentioned I had done it as a holiday activity.

After the retweet, I had a number of people ask me about the holiday science session where we used Squishy Circuits with children aged 5 and 6.

The idea is that you make two types of playdough: one that conducts electricity; the other insulates.

I started by introducing the idea that electricity needs to flow.  We looked at a large 6 volt battery, and connected it up to a light, making emphasis on the two wires needed: one to take the electricity to the light, and the other back, making a circuit.

Then I introduced the idea that electricity flows along material we call a conductor, and is stopped by material we call an insulator.

We tried connecting into the circuit wood, wire, and a pencil.  (The pencil is interesting, as the outside is insulating, but the graphite lead is conducting.)

“So guys, electricity needs to flow in a circuit.  It flows through conductors.  It is stopped by insulators.  Let’s play with playdough!”

We had green conducting playdough, and white playdough as insulating.  We also used LEDs, which meant we also needed to get across the concept that electricity needs to flow through it in one direction for it to emit light.  Ideally, I would have liked a light that could be put into the circuit either direction.  But LEDs are small, cheap, and light up at a small voltage.

We moved over to tables set up in a horseshoe.  This way the kids could see some large cardboard diagrams I was drawing up.  The first circuit we made got across the idea of the green vs the white:

In this circuit we put in many LEDs, and try them in different orientations to get across the idea that they will only work one way.

Next, I presented a couple of challenges.  One was a caterpillar:

I didn’t give them the colours of the dough they should use.  I left it up to them to figure out.  After giving them some thinking and construction time, I coloured in the answer:

The second challenge was to make a face with LEDs for eyes (an uncoloured outline of the next picture.)

Again, I gave them thinking and construction time, then showed the answer:

The rest of the session was freeplay where everyone could make their own model.  There were many monsters constructed.

My son Gabriel connecting up a squishy circuit.

Considering the age group, I found this was a great introduction to electrical circuits, conduction and insulation.  The playdough made for a kind of freeplay you couldn’t do with just wires and batteries.

Given further sessions, you could reinforce the concepts with more models and challenges.  More advanced session could include other electronic components, such as motors.

Any suggestions?

LaunchPod Launches!

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I am collaborating with another science communicator, the talented Vanessa Hill, on a podcast!

It’s called LaunchPod, and will be presenting ideas, careers, and possible futures for Australian students passionate about the space industry.

The podcasts feature interviews with professionals involved with space science research, development, exploration and discovery in Australia. We’ll be finding out what they do, how they got started, and for any advice they can give to aspiring young people.

The first episode of LaunchPod was released last Friday, and can be found on Soundcloud: LaunchPod Episode One.

LaunchPod also has a website at LaunchPod.net, and you can follow updates on Twitter at @launchp0d (that’s a zero, not an oh.)

Cornflour Slime + Music

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I had seen this particular demo going about on YouTube for a while, but it wasn’t until we tried it for a holiday program that I wanted to investigate it further.

The idea is that the cornflour is a non-Newtonian fluid; that is, it does not behave like a classical fluid, ie, water. It instead changes its consistency depending on the forces acting on it. At times it can flow and ooze. Other times it can feel and act like a solid.

Pour the mixture into a sound speaker, and find the right percussive action, and you get all kinds of spectacular behaviour.

Cornflour Slime in a Speaker!

You and Me versus Zombies 015

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(Or, A Reluctant Father’s Guide to Child-Raising in a Post-Apocalyptic World. Explanation.)

My son’s brain is a sponge. From the time he was a bunch of multiplying cells somewhere deep inside his mother, there was a feedback circuit developing. Stimuli coming from taps, prods, even singing from his mother and I through developing nerve endings into his crysalis. Nothing develops in a vaccuum. Every prod is turned into information somewhere in his growing nervous system, and tucked away in the fanning matrix of neurons which would be later wrapped in flesh and bone that we kiss and gaze adoringly at.

As such, I am careful what I feed into that matrix.

For instance: Sam doesn’t need to see the postman.

I cuddle him and give him back the lollypop. He sucks at it while coming down off his energetic bawl, now and then gasping for air.

“Home time,” I whisper.

You and Me versus Zombies 014

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(Or, A Reluctant Father’s Guide to Child-Raising in a Post-Apocalyptic World. Explanation.)

My dad taught me how to shoot while I was growing up. It’s in a little subset of skills that I never thought I’d ever use again.
The postman has not moved from across the street, still twitching and muttering in the bright sun.
I bring the rifle to my shoulder and align the sight’s crosshairs on the helmet. I debat for a moment if the bullet’s caliber is enough to travel through all those layers, and move the aim for its chest.
“Don’t hold your breath,” whispers my dad into my mind’s ear. “Aim just above the target. And squeeze squeeze squeeze-”
The rifle kicks into my shoulder. The postman yelps, and sinks to the ground.
Sam starts to cry.

Clean Feed: The Clash of Perceptions

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Forget the current soap-opera that is Australian Politics at the moment; there were once real issues to discuss. To wit: should Australia implement a nation-wide firewall on our Internet access? Should we have a clean feed?

The federal government was all set in rolling out this Internet clean feed upon us, though I have little knowledge as to where the issue now sits.

Eighteen months ago, I made my own video on the clean feed issue, and submitted it to Hungry Beast (and they gave me $1000!)

It’s available on the ABC website hungrybeast.abc.net.au/media/clean-feed-clash-perceptions

I thought time I put it on my own YouTube channel.

Here it is in glorious technicolour: