Brain Candy

Welcome zombies! In need of some sweet sweet brains? Here ya go:

Or make your own with a 3-D brain candy mold: 

Or if you are a vegan zombie, you might want to carve this melony version: 


Instructions on Instructables

Happy Halloween!!

Make Your Own Alien Costume

Still looking for last-minute Halloween ideas? Check out "How to Make an Alien Costume" on Mahalo. There are some ideas there that you could easily put together at the last minute.

More Geeky Halloween Costumes: Last Minute Edition

Still not sure what you will be dressing up as on Friday night? Here is a bit more inspiration: 

• The Discover Discoblog has the Top Ten Science Halloween Costumes, from a quickie squid to a recyclebot to a biohazard suit . Read part 1, part 2.
• io9 has 10 awesome SF-themed costumes you can get done by Friday. Why not show up to your Halloween party as an off-duty Battlestar Galactica personnel, or a random Stargater? Easy and fun.

I think the biohazard suit could be made doubly awesome by carrying a vial of chemiluminescent chemicals casting an eerie glow.

Tufted Yoda Ears

It's getting a bit late to order Halloween costumes, but I think these lovely Yoda-like ears sold by CreaturesbyChelsea might be worth the investment. They probably could be worn at other times too - maybe the next Comic-Con?

Evil Mad Scientist Halloween

If you haven't carved your pumpkin yet and you're handy with a knife and soldering iron, you might want to check out the Halloween projects at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. I especially like the old-school Cylon pumpkin, with glowing eye.

Biology 101 Art

It must be my total biogeekiness that makes me love CraftyHedgehog's knitted dissected frogs and rats so much. It would be a perfect gift for someone like me - or maybe your Biology 101 instructor. Check out all CraftyHedgehog's dissections.

Make A Space Suit Costume for Cheap!

Here's a cool video about how to make a science fiction-style astronaut costume for less than $50 (and lots of elbow gease):


(via io9)

Chemistry Costumes

If you are looking for last-minute ideas for a chemistry-themed costume, check out this list of suggestions at Daily Reactions of a Chemist.

Not on the list (maybe because it's too silly): you go as sodium ion, your honey goes as a chloride ion, and you go everywhere together because you are so attracted to each other :)

Geek Cakes!

While I've been posting the occasional geeky cake here, I should have realized that there would be an entire blog devoted to the subject. Super geek cake categories:

• maths
• chemistry (check out the pictured cake!)
• physics
• gaming

Such yummy-looking geekiness!

(via Slashfood)

Carnivorous Plants Calendar

A Print a Day is sharing a pretty carnivorous plants calendar that you can download and print for yourself. The days of the month are blank, so it can be used for any year. All you need to do is enter the days, either by hand, or using an image-editing program like Photoshop.

(via the Craftzine.com blog)

Personal Planetarium

Kevin Kelly has a personal review of the GPS-powered SkyScout Personal Planetarium, which sounds like a lot of fun for the amateur astronomy buff:

Mostly, we star gaze from our backyard in the ‘burbs -- not a "dark-sky certified" area with a dramatic showing of stars hidden by the pollution of city lights. But that's the point: there's so much to see, even in our own backyard! Our favorite function is the "tour" which lets us sit back and look upward while listening to a Top 20 list of objects identified as optimal for viewing based on the date, time, and location of our session. The audible lessons are really interesting and fun -- usually consisting of highlights and some esoterica of the object under observation.

You can purchase the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium at Amazon.com.

Halloween Throwdown

Tor.com is sponsoring "The Great Halloween Throwdown of 2008", which allows members of the Tor.com community to share their pumpkins, costumes and other Halloween creations. There are entries both geeky and not, but all are in good fun!

Spacy Socks

The Sock Dreams Sock It To Me Space socks are perfect for astronomers and others who want to share their love of orbital bodies.

Best Halloween Costumes for the Inner Geek

ShinyShiny has a gallery of the best Halloween costumes for your inner geek.

And if you haven't found a costume yet, you can still order one from Amazon.com. Free shipping on most orders of $25 or more through October 23. They have a few geekalicious options.:

• Star Trek ToS SCIENCE UNIFORM Classic Adult Blue T-shirt
• Star Trek ToS ENGINEERING UNIFORM Classic Adult Red T-shirt
• Star Trek The Next Generation Jumpsuit Uniform Costume (Red)
• Deluxe Deep Space Nine Star Trek Uniform Costume Jumpsuit (Teal)
• Official Battlestar Galactica Kara Thrace (Starbuck) Dog Tags
• DC Comics Deluxe Wonder Woman Adult Costume
• Adult Jedi Robe Costume
• Mad Scientist Lab Kit Halloween Haunted House Prop (681a-b)
• Astronaut Suit Adult Costume
• Adult's Adventurer Halloween Costume Kit
• World of Warcraft Night Elf Latex Prosthetic Kit

Knitted Assets of Evo

Marnie MacLean shares a pattern for a pair of sexy knitted boy shorts sporting a design with Darwin's tree. Cute!

Get your Intelligent Behind into a cute little pair of boy shorts and express your love for rationality, reason, and the man with the plan, Charles Darwin.

These shorts are knit top-down and in the round, so there’s almost no finishing. If you want to skip the duplicate stitch motif, you can have these quick little knits on your tuckus in no time at all.

(via Evolving Thoughts )

Sci-Fi Pumpkin Carving Templates

Pink Raygun has been rounding up an excellent collection of free science fiction-related pumpkin carving templates. My favorites are great sci-fi couples:

• Apollo and Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica
• Ianto Jones and Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood
• Dr. Who and the Tardis (the Doctor's only long-term companion)

Check them all out.

Orbital Necklace

At the Ulixis Etsy store you can purchase this stylish necklace depicting the obits of our solar system's inner planets.

At the center is the sun: a 10 mm clear glass flat disc with yellow ghost (a stripe within the glass). The next planet is Mercury: a 4mm mookaite round. Next is Venus: a 6mm Swarovski rondelle in light Colorado topaz (with a beautiful AB finish). Next is the Earth: a 6mm blue-green-clear glass round with white "clouds". Finally, Mars: a 5mm red glass round.

All the planets can move freely on their orbits (except for Mercury, which needs some force to move).

Geeky Timepieces: Radian Wall Clock

This math-nerd clock tells time in both degrees and radians. You can get yourself one at CafePress.

(via Nerd Approved)

Geeky Bento Boxes

Bento are traditional Japanese packed meals. Unlike American lunch boxes which tend toward the garish, bento boxes themselves are usually pretty simple. The food inside, however, is another story. It's often elaborately arranged into the shapes of flowers, animals or other designs. But it doesn't have to be cutesy. PlanetSurfer.net has a nice roundup of geeked-out bento box designs - perfect for hungry geeks. 

Erlenmeyer Flask Earrings

VivaceCrafts sells cute cartoony foam Ehrlenmeyer Flask Earrings.

For added sturdiness and more protection from the elements, these earrings are coated in a layer of resin. You never know what can splash up at you, especially if you aren't wearing protection in the lab! **Please do remove them before bathing / jumping into an acid bath**

Perfect for the fashionable chemist!

Radioactive Zipper Pulls

Gadget.brando.com.uk sells a nifty zipper pull with a GTLS - gaseous tritium lighting source. It would be an excellent accessory for any geek's jacket. The only drawback is that radioactive gadgets might be illegal. There is discussion at BoingBoing (but no consensus) about the law in that regard.

Geek Halloween Costumes for Women

VideoVoo has 10 suggestions for geek costumes for women:

• For Silicon Valley geeks there's Google executive Marissa Mayer, who apparently has a distinctive laugh. 
• If you want to go historical, 19th century programmer Ada Byron Lovelace would be an excellent choice.
• On the other hand, if science fiction is more your style, you might consider dressing as robotics expert Dr. Susan Calvin (Asimov's version, rather than the movie version if you are true SF geek)

Check out the full post for more suggestions. 

I would add Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper to the list. She not only was a great programmer, but also wore a chic uniform.

Check out my other suggestions for Geeky Halloween Costumes.

National Chemistry Week Gear

National Chemistry Week is October 19-25, so there's still time to order some chem pride gear from the American Chemical Society. This year's theme is "Having a Ball With Chemistry", so have some fun!

Shown above: Women's "Proud to be a Chemist" Hoodie, Meg A. Mole Plush Doll, Women's Baby Doll T-Shirt, Plastic Flasks.
See the ACS web site for the full selection of sizes and many more chem-related items.

Geeky Physics Halloween Costumes

With Halloween fast approaching, it's time to decide on a costume. While you can always shop at the local mega mart or costume shop, the selection for women tends to be limited to sexy pirate, sexy devil, sexy witch and similar "sexy" costumes. So what do you do if you want to dress up as something a bit more clever? Twisted Physics has some suggestions for physics-related costumes that should be great conversation starters.  Going as Maxwell's Demon or Schroedinger's cat would make you the talk of the party. 

Check out her post for more physics costume suggestions.

Check out my other suggestions for Geeky Halloween Costumes.

Contamination Cups

Ceramicist Tamsin van Essen has a fantastic collection of cups that appear to have been infected by different bacteria. She has made deadly microbes into art. It doesn't appear that her work is available for purchase through her web site, but she is currently exhibiting at the Pragu Contemporary Art Festival.

Shown: Cholera, with the "infected" cup next to electron micrographs of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae

(via designklub via  CribCandy)

Quasar for a Cause

Etsy seller Finestra Designs donates 20% of sales to the charity of the buyer's choice (see the announcement for details). That means a purchase of one of Finestra's jewelry items created from fantastic NASA astronomy prints will both look fabulous and do some good for others. I especially like the Quasar Pendant (at left) and the Moon Phases Bracelet.

Death By Chocolate

I - EAT - BRAINS! At least when they are made of chocolate. The Pushin Daisies mortuary shop has a delicious selection of anatomical chocolates, including a 1 pound brain, mini-brains with cherry centers,  anatomically correct molar, and anatomically correct heart. Nom nom nom!

Estrogen Jewelry to Help Women with Breast Cancer

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Made With Molecules is donating 50% of proceeds from sales of estrogen jewelry to WomenCARE, a support organization for women with breast cancer. Buy an estrogen piece during October as a symbol of femininity and caring for other women.

Acme Klein Bottle

A Klein Bottle is a geometrical wonder. It's beautifully shaped, but has no distinct "inside" or "outside".  It would be the perfect gift for anyone with a love of geometry - or pretty glassware. the primary purveyor of such objects is Acme Klein Bottle, owned and operated by  Clifford Stoll. As he describes it: 

At last, Acme has conquered topological and engineering frontiers to manufacture genuine glass Klein Bottles. These are the finest closed, non-orientable, boundary-free manifolds sold anywhere in our three spatial dimensions.

These elegant bottles make splendid gifts, outstanding classroom displays, and inferior mouse-traps. With its circle of singularities, an Acme Klein Bottle can be said to exist inside of itself -- especially handy during time-reversals.

I think they would make the perfect geeky wedding or housewarming gift.

Science T-Shirt Sale at Yellow Ibis

Yellow Ibis, purveyors of fabulous science-themed t-shirts and other apparel, are having a Halloween sale: 20% off orders of $30 or more, or 3€ off any purchase of at least 15€. See the Yellow Ibis blog for details.

Shown left: Black cotton/spandex skirt printed with the chemical structure of estrogen

Shown right: Feynman Diagram T-Shirt

See my previous post about Yellow Ibis: Create Your Own Chemical T-Shirt

Necromance

Come October my desires turn to bones and creepy crawly things. The perfect source of such ghoulish gear is Necromance.  If you can't make it to their Hollywood store, you can browse their select items online. Some of my favorites: the real mouse hand necklace (shown left), turtle vertebrae ring, the small bat in a glass frame, x-rays of human bones, and the mounted spider web. There are also items decorated with old botanical prints, mounted insects and other biological bits.

And if you are shopping for Halloween gear, they also sell lots of items with skulls and spiders and funereal accessories. Awesome.