bumpers

Gray Matter: Nickel Growing in Trees

Electroplating makes bumpers shiny and rustproof. It also makes these beautiful bits of industrial waste

Plating at Home

Cost: $30
Easy | | | | | Hard


You may not want to rechrome a '57 Chevy, but you can coat small objects using kits designed for plating jewelry. This $30 plating pen (pmcsupply.com) uses electricity the same as the bumper factory does, just with a couple AA batteries instead of a car-size transformer.

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November 2009: Astronaut 3.0

Inside NASA's astronaut bootcamp and the grueling new training regimen for deep space. Plus, ten young geniuses shaking up science today, one writer's quest to analyze every man-made chemical in her body and more.

Check out the issue's full contents online here

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