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A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

https://maurycyz.com/projects/spinthariscope/
30•maurycyz•2h ago

Comments

dvh•1h ago
I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.
kergonath•1h ago
Potassium-40 is not an alpha emitter.
fecal_henge•1h ago
Maybe he used banana as the scintillator.
DetroitThrow•1h ago
That's unrelated. He's been diligently substituting bananas in many experiments to mostly disappointment.
thadt•51m ago
Bananas are like XML that way. If you're not getting the results you want, you're just not using enough of them.
lukasschwab•53m ago
You won't make one at home, but cloud chambers[^1] reveal individual alpha particle tracks.

There's one in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris — blew my mind!

[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber

Edit: turns out people make these at home all the time. Sick!

lukan•47m ago
Well, google for "DIY cloud chamber" did result in quite some entries. Apart from youtube channels, with the first entry a guide from CERN:

https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/how-make-your-own-cl...

alnwlsn•44m ago
This can be done at home with a little effort. Less effort if you can get dry ice easily.

https://hackaday.com/2019/01/13/see-the-radioactive-world-wi...

Yenrabbit•41m ago
You can easily make them at home (source, I did last weekend!). - Dry ice (mine came from something shipped cold) - Dark piece of metal (I used a 3D printer hot bed) on top of dry ice to get cold - IPA vapour (I poured some on a shop towel) - Some transparent container to house it all - I found a glass display cube on the side of the road, fish tanks or Tupperware also work. - Torch or something to provide side lighting Very cool to see evidence of the particles zooming around us, can highly recommend.
r2_pilot•37m ago
If you haven't experienced a spinthariscope, I can highly recommend it. I bought one as a Christmas present for a buddy and we both enjoy its demonstration of radioactivity.
cbm-vic-20•30m ago
Don't miss a chance to see the Cherenkov radiation effect at your local research reactor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

Fedware: Government apps that spy harder than the apps they ban

https://www.sambent.com/the-white-house-app-has-huawei-spyware-and-an-ice-tip-line/
167•speckx•2h ago•47 comments

Do your own writing

https://alexhwoods.com/dont-let-ai-write-for-you/
157•karimf•8h ago•51 comments

How to turn anything into a router

https://nbailey.ca/post/router/
479•yabones•7h ago•183 comments

Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)

https://anishathalye.com/macbook-touchscreen/
43•HughParry•1h ago•13 comments

We Hid a Free Trip to Switzerland in Our Privacy Policy. Someone Found It

https://www.cape.co/blog/easter-egg-in-privacy-policy
29•bwoah•37m ago•6 comments

Bird brains (2023)

https://www.dhanishsemar.com/writing/bird-brains
265•DiffTheEnder•7h ago•170 comments

Cherri – programming language that compiles to an Apple Shortuct

https://github.com/electrikmilk/cherri
159•mihau•2d ago•30 comments

William Blake, Remote by the Sea

https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/william-blake-remote-sea
21•occurrence•1h ago•0 comments

OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

https://www.getanchorgrid.com/developer/docs/endpoints/drawings-doors
79•wcisco17•4h ago•48 comments

Vulnerability Research Is Cooked

https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2026/03/30/vulnerability-research-is-cooked/
40•pedro84•1h ago•15 comments

CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font

https://www.codingfont.com/
226•nvahalik•5h ago•135 comments

Seeing Like a Spreadsheet

https://davidoks.blog/p/how-the-spreadsheet-reshaped-america
28•paulpauper•2d ago•5 comments

Build123d: A Python CAD programming library

https://github.com/gumyr/build123d
93•Ivoah•23h ago•37 comments

Roulette Computers: Hidden Devices That Predict Spins

https://www.roulette-computers.com/
9•o4c•2d ago•0 comments

In math, rigor is vital, but are digitized proofs taking it too far?

https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-math-rigor-is-vital-but-are-digitized-proofs-taking-it-too-far-...
76•isaacfrond•4d ago•60 comments

A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

https://maurycyz.com/projects/spinthariscope/
30•maurycyz•2h ago•12 comments

Take better notes, by hand

https://brianschrader.com/archive/take-better-notes-by-hand/
134•sonicrocketman•4h ago•61 comments

Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI

https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26524
176•zaikunzhang•9h ago•70 comments

What Construction at a Train Station Taught Me About Software Engineering

https://engineering.leanix.net/blog/engineering/
8•vinhnx•3d ago•2 comments

Recover Apple Keychain

https://arkoinad.com/posts/apple_keychain_recovery.html
20•speckx•3h ago•5 comments

FTC action against Match and OkCupid for deceiving users, sharing personal data

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/03/ftc-takes-action-against-match-okcupi...
192•gnabgib•5h ago•98 comments

Show HN: Coasts – Containerized Hosts for Agents

https://github.com/coast-guard/coasts
35•jsunderland323•5h ago•12 comments

The curious case of retro demo scene graphics

https://www.datagubbe.se/aipixels/
328•zdw•15h ago•83 comments

I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BJ4pnropWdnzzgeJc/i-am-definitely-missing-the-pre-ai-writing-era
194•joozio•13h ago•169 comments

I use Excalidraw to manage my diagrams for my blog

https://blog.lysk.tech/excalidraw-frame-export/
244•mlysk•13h ago•99 comments

An NSFW filter for Marginalia search

https://www.marginalia.nu/log/a_134_nsfw/
57•speckx•4h ago•12 comments

Proactively Parasocial

https://nicklandolfi.com/posts/proactively-parasocial.html
22•jxmorris12•4d ago•3 comments

New Washington state law bans noncompete agreements

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/new-washington-law-bans-noncompete-agreements/
250•toomuchtodo•3h ago•99 comments

Fibonacci's Composed Fractions

https://ztoz.blog/posts/fibonacci-fractions/
9•aebtebeten•3d ago•2 comments

Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Equation: Reinforcement Learning and Diffusion Models

https://dani2442.github.io/posts/continuous-rl/
138•sebzuddas•13h ago•41 comments