To promote a lifelong love of science and experimentation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation runs an annual Science Play and Research Kit (or SPARK) contest, challenging people to reimagine a kid’s chemistry set for the 21st century. Many of the chemicals we associate with childhood science kits are now illegal, and while their replacements may be less explosive, they’re more innovative, as evinced by this year's winner.Stanford bioengineer Manu Prakash and graduate student George Korir, winners of this year’s prototype contest, upheld experimentation by combining sophisticated microfluidic technology with an old-fashioned wind-up music box to create an affordable, portable chemistry set.A microfluidic system uses miniature pipes, valves, and pumps installed on a programmable microchip to complete a variety of chemistry or biology experiments. In this case, the chip allows child scientists to manipulate nanoliters of liquid, decreasing the impact of dangerous chemicals. And the microchips are cheap, meaning the set costs less than $5.00. Safe, cool, and affordable.The chips release chemicals when a scientist winds a crank, spooling hole-punched tape like a music box. The holes trigger the microchips to release droplets of liquid, which then provide a read-out of an experiment’s results. Though Prakash and Korir’s original prototype used pieces of a real wind-up music box, they also created versions where the crank and pins were 3D-printed.Initially, Prakash and Korir designed their kit to test water quality around the world or serve as a snake bite venom test kit. But in a kid’s world, the science set is open-ended and programmable, more simply a platform for exploration with which children can conduct a wide variety of experiments. When your kid (or you) are ready to graduate from the old Mentos and Coke challenge, this will be the thing to pursue.Featured image of the Prakash Prototype by George KorirH/T Wired
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