As a kid, I would always take apart my toys (though I wouldn't always be able to get them back together). I wanted to know how things worked, and I was fascinated by simple designs; a latch that didn't require an extra spring and instead used the flexing of an integrated plastic arm. The questions of "how?" and "why?" have always been my roots for curiosity.
In my experience, curiosity leads to wonder and amazement. I consider myself a maker, and I love playing around with 3d models and using a 3d printer to bring them into the real world. A particular instance of when my curiosity for making lead to wonder and amazement was when I laser-cut a "living hinge" out of plywood. This design, which I found online, cut small perforations in the plywood at a specific spacing. When the cut completed and I picked the wood up, I was able to bend it almost 90 degrees back and forth across the perforations. This material that was typically extremely rigid was now impossibly flexible. I was so amazed by this property and continued with the design to make a gift for my mom. The curiosity to try this design I found online lead to a really interesting result that has stuck with me as I continue to create.
Noah Johnson, North Carolina
Student, Tinkerer, Maker, RA
In my experience, curiosity leads to wonder and amazement. I consider myself a maker, and I love playing around with 3d models and using a 3d printer to bring them into the real world. A particular instance of when my curiosity for making lead to wonder and amazement was when I laser-cut a "living hinge" out of plywood. This design, which I found online, cut small perforations in the plywood at a specific spacing. When the cut completed and I picked the wood up, I was able to bend it almost 90 degrees back and forth across the perforations. This material that was typically extremely rigid was now impossibly flexible. I was so amazed by this property and continued with the design to make a gift for my mom. The curiosity to try this design I found online lead to a really interesting result that has stuck with me as I continue to create.
Noah Johnson, North Carolina
Student, Tinkerer, Maker, RA