Well, what’s a narrow rigid tube that’s easy for anyone to acquire? A clear drinking straw! Paper clips make for appropriately sized electrodes, and since a drinking straw is rigid, it can be used in either the horizontal or the vertical orientation. For extra bonus points, when you’re ready to cut a band out of the gel, no need for mucking around with razor blades — just take a (sterile) pair of scissors, snip snip, and you’re done! Plus, disposal is extra simple, even with polyacrylamide — just dispose of the entire straw, gel and all, properly. Tito Jankowski tried this out, using a single 9V battery as a power supply, and after some debugging, it worked beautifully. (He also used alligator clips as electrodes, and they worked just fine.) We’re calling these “keiki gels” because they’re so small and cute — and so simple, even a little kid can do them. This is crowdsourced science at its very finest. Behold the power of collaboration!

DIY bioscience is real.

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