Maybe twenty five years ago I read a couple of articles in Scientific American’s Amateur Scientist column (alas, not part of the magazine any longer) that described how to build a mass spectorgraph and a gas chromatograph. I was absolutely fascinated by these two projects but I never got around to building either. Then today I stumbled across another amazing project: Build Your Own Scanning Tunnelling Microscope! The plans for this device are published free of charge on a Web site belonging to the Interface Physics Group of the University of Münster in Germany. A team headed by a Prof. Fuchs created the design and the site includes images taken using one of the amateur STMs. Outstanding! You can buy all of the components you need direct from the group for 889,65€ (international pricing). Will I get around to building one of these? Unfortunately not in the near future. The big project I have waiting in the wings is a hovercraft . Now all I need to find is the time … Related content reviews Gravityscan, keeping WordPress sites safe If you want to keep your WordPress site free from hackers, you need Gravityscan to find the vulnerabilities By Mark Gibbs May 24, 2017 4 mins Security how-to Raspberry Pi, ultrasonics, and music Building a theremin with a Raspberry Pi using an ultrasonic distance sensor By Mark Gibbs May 19, 2017 4 mins Computers and Peripherals news What's in your home's basement? Bet it's not a mainframe. Collecting vintage computing gear should have its limits ... but not in this case By Mark Gibbs May 14, 2017 2 mins Computers and Peripherals reviews PodPi makes STEM education exciting! Problem solving with electronics, code, and cartoons. School wasn't this cool in my day. By Mark Gibbs Mar 29, 2017 4 mins Smart Home Podcasts Videos Resources Events NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe