My dad's a laser scientist. He has a PhD in physics, and so lasers have always been interesting to me, ever since I was a little kid. I can still remember one night when he brought a laser home from work and we sat in the living room and lit matches and stuff so we could blow smoke around the room and see the beams of light and talk about how they worked. Years later I even did a (reaaallllly) lame laser light show for our high school review.

I learned about coherent light and interference and how you could actually record images on a holographic plate without a lens. Crazy, and seemingly impossible until I understood the coherent light thing. It was a great lesson.

Anyway, I always wanted to make holograms. They were cool. I mean, it involved lasers. They were scientifically interesting. It was complicated process, and meant mixing the chemicals needed to process the holographic plates, not to mention finding a freakin' laser you could use and a completely dark room. These days not so hard to to do - but back in 1977 or so, not so simple, my man.

But fast forward to today, when anyone can jump in the Intarweb and order themselves up a complete hologram-making kit - laser and all - for less than $150. No chemicals, just a dry kit. Now that's cool. All the parts you need to make a hologram in just a few minutes.

So - Want to do a great science lesson with the kids, and let them get creative in a way their friends haven't ever done? Get one of these and together you can experience the magical art of light coherence and interference.

[Via MSNBC and Engadget]