Updates

Hi All,

Wanted to give some updates on how things are going and some other items.

The new lab is almost 100% done being built. We're now well into the "test all the new stuff" phase and making sure all the tools are working as they are supposed to be. There's a few things left to build, mainly better material storage, but all the tools have been purchased and have arrived. Already the new lab is a fricken dream. We've spent so much time making sure it's all super well organized so finding things while working, and tidying up after is so much easier.

Filming has also been a dream. Since the whole space was designed with filming in mind, I have everything I need ready when I need it, and it all looks great on camera. My new audio stuff arrived as well so I now have a sennheiser lapel mic which will make all the on-camera bits a lot better. The sound quality is something that really bothered me in the last video, so that should hopefully be sorted now.

With that all done, the focus now is finally back on new projects, so lets talk a bit about what I'm working on. The first project in the new space will be building the vacuum system of my dreams. Just today I sent in a massive mcmaster-carr order for most of the raw materials I'll need to build it. It's gonna be based around a very large pyrex bell jar so it's easy to see everything in the chamber. Basically we're planning on cloning the vacuum system that applied science built, but reworked a bit to suit my needs. The system will house a magnetron, physical vapor deposition system, and feed throughs for whatever other vacuum projects I want.

The reason we're starting with this, is because one of the next projects will be building an ion thruster. Definitly not one which is space worthy, but one where we can explore the science of them, how they work, how their performance is measured, that sort of thing. And I'm super excited about who I'm working on that project with.

Another reason I'm building the vacuum system is because it's about time I finally revist the neuron project. The new bio lab is amazing and is fully setup for doing mammalian work, with the exception of a CO2 incubator, but I plan on building one once I need it. And the way we're getting neurons this time is way cooler. Instead of buying them, I found a bit of DNA that can turn skin cells directly into neurons. SO we're going to isolate skin cells from one of my friends  (he volunteered) and then once we've got a pure culture, turn the cells into neurons. From there we'll use the new vacuum system to make waaaaaay better arrays than last time, and then get some neurons on them. We're working out a control scheme that should allow us to make the neurons respond to basic stimuli. Like "pass the butter" or "open the pod bay doors", etc. This project will take a while to get fully working though since there's a lot of moving parts.

Speaking of which, I have just changed the patreon from per-video to monthly. My reasoning for this is 2 fold. First I haven't made more than 1 video per month in at least a year. And second, I'm now planning on tackling projects that are going to take a lot longer to make, but the payoff should be awesome. This means there may be months were I don't manage to get a video out as Im working on something really really hard. 

Also part of the new lab is that I now have a crew of people helping me who are literally some of the smartest people I know, and I'm 100% sure you'll see the difference in project quality. Point is, I'm always going to be working on projects, but still would like to be able to pay rent while doing so, hence the switch to monthly. I hope you all understand and are as excited for what's coming as I am.

That's all for now. I'll be trying to post some more updates as things evolve, but if you want to follow along, the place I post the most lately is discord. I'll try and post more here though.

All the best!
-Justin