Mai Nguyen

Looking to use up your end-of-year budget? We’re obviously biased, but we think Bento Lab makes an awesome gift for your lab (and yourself!). 🎅 A PCR workstation for less than $2000 that you can use for sequencing library prep, LAMP assays or just as your daily PCR. youtube.com/watch?v=-Tlq-B…

Here's our take on how Cambodia's Funan Techo Canal impacts the Mekong in both Cambodia and Vietnam... ....and what can be done to mitigate those impacts and reduce tensions in the region. stimson.org/2024/impacts-o…

Calling all #Inkscape BETA TESTERS! Our 1.4 beta is here for you to download. Please help the project out with your feedback & bug reports, so we can improve the 1.4 launch: inkscape.org/release/inksca… #ArtWithOpenSource

We are excited to announce the inaugural call for applications for the GOSH Ambassador Program! Join a cohort of researchers, educators, & practitioners passionate about promoting open science hardware principles. Deadline May 15th- find out more below: openhardware.science/gosh-ambassado…

Now pollens made me think of pastry 😊

My three laws of robotics. The companies that I have founded have sold 50+ million real robots to real customers; research robots, home cleaning, nuclear power plant inspection, military ground robots, upper body humanoids in factories, and now at Robust.AI, intelligent carts in warehouses and factories. I'm aiming to get to 9 digits of robots rather than a mere 8, and in thinking about that I've reviewed my own implicit three laws of robotics that have guided me, and now have written them down explicitly. Here they are: 1. The visual appearance of a robot makes a promise about what it can do and how smart it is. It needs to deliver or slightly over deliver on that promise or it will not be accepted. 2. When robots and people coexist in the same spaces, the robots must not take away from people’s agency, particularly when the robots are failing, as inevitably they will at times. 3. Technologies for robots need 10+ years of steady improvement beyond lab demos of the target tasks to mature to low cost and to have their limitations characterized well enough that they can deliver 99.9% of the time. Every 10 more years gets another 9 in reliability.

Por PhD student Jasmine Lu (@xjasminelu ) is presenting our work on a tool for assisting with reusing and up cycling electronic components at the Open Hardware Summit (@oshwassociation) I. Montreal! Video of her awesome tool in action here: youtu.be/XYMRXMVBfNg

Tickets are on sale now for the 2024 Open Hardware Summit in Montreal, Canada! Make sure to grab your ticket ASAP to be able to participate in an incredible year of talks, workshops and more! Get yours here: 2024OpenHardwareSummit.eventbrite.com

(1/2) Moments like these fuel the fire of every #Foldscope mentor. We have long known that curiosity is everywhere. But as society, do we have the courage to make science equitable for all. Breaks my heart that after 10 yrs, we still can’t find funds to massively scale #foldscope

🌿🌍 Exciting news at #CHI2024! The Sustainability Committee introduces 🥇Special Recognition for Sustainable Practices. Offset carbon, host no-waste workshops, and more for a chance to be recognized. Apply now and make a green impact: chi2024.acm.org/2024/01/25/spe… @sigchi

Heading to Stockholm next month and very much looking forward to this exhibition

Just one word: apply! This is a fantastic global peer-to-peer learning community, speaking from my experience in the 2020 cohort.

Three days left to submit a proposal for a talk, workshop or exhibition table at the 2024 Open Hardware Summit! Tag someone who you would love to see talk at the Summit 🔩⚡️ 2024.oshwa.org/submit-a-propo…

which is why PlantPad's idea of making affordable menstrual pads using an organic fiber that hardly needs water for growing and can easily break down naturally makes sense to me

Not sure why this April tweet by @PrakashLab only pops up on my feed now but I've nodded happily. I use both menstrual cup and reusable pads but traveling to poor and arid areas makes me think they are not ideal for the local women due to high cost and lack of water for washing

#NossLecture @PauloBlikstein gives a powerful message about AI and education #AIEd @uclknowledgelab

We are extremely proud to announce that our Open Source Creators in Academia Fellowship has reached its conclusion with the launch of our website featuring all our Fellows findings. Explore the website here: ohca.oshwa.org

For anyone interested in cheap “homemade” DNA extractions using spin columns, or learning what is in most commercial kits, here’s a great modular system of extraction methods called “Mu-DNA”. Mu-DNA stands for “Modular Universal DNA extraction method", and it should be able to deal with most DNA source types, whether soil, tissue, or water. It also has detailed protocols on protocols.io. The article: Sellers, G. S., Di Muri, C., Gómez, A., & Hänfling, B. (2018). Mu-DNA: a modular universal DNA extraction method adaptable for a wide range of sample types. Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, 2, e24556. mbmg.pensoft.net/article/24556/… Detailed protocols: protocols.io/view/mu-dna-a-… This article is particularly useful for anyone wanting to find out more about the chemistry of DNA extraction because the purpose and function of each chemical are described for each modular step. The authors estimate the cost of single DNA extractions to be under £0.81 for all methods (in 2018 prices), which is a very good cost saving compared to around £3-£5 per sample using a commercial kit!

'As architects, it’s important to realise that we’ve been designing from a very m singular point of view. And we need to ask: what would an architecture that is based on different values look like?' — Afaina de Jong on why feminism is essential to architecture. #WDCDMXGNP2023

For anyone interested in field DNA sequencing with Bento Lab and Oxford @nanopore MinION, this excellent and extremely detailed review of in-situ sequencing with portable equipment is a very good place to start: Pomerantz et al. (2022). Rapid in situ identification of biological specimens via DNA amplicon sequencing using miniaturized laboratory equipment. Nature Protocols, 17(6), 1415-1443. researchgate.net/publication/35… And if you want even more insights into the possibilities and practicalities of Bento Lab and MinION field sequencing workflows, check out our Stories pages to find out what leading researchers have been doing with portable field labs around the world: bento.bio/stories/