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Back in December, I posted on the very cool QX5 Microscope, by Digital Blue. It’s built for kids, but alot of fun for adults, too. Yesterday a friend who’d bought one of those after I showed it to her mentioned to me that she was getting her son another very cool science toy, and I did a little research. This thing is nice.

It’s made by Discovery Channel. They call it the Discovery DNA Explorer Kit. Yes, that’s right. DNA. You can have your very own DNA lab for less than $100. And this isn’t just a toy… you can extract and map real DNA. Pretty cool, huh? Includes all the tools you need to grow that extra arm you’ve always wanted… well… maybe not, but all the tools you need to perform a variety of interesting experiments that help you (or, yeah, wait, your kid, this is for kids, too) learn more about genetics.

You can read more about it in this Wired Magazine writeup from a couple of years ago. I think the kit has been updated a bit since then, but it gives a good general overview.

The Discovery DNA Explorer Kit is available at Amazon for $79.95. Instructions for cloning Fluffy not included.