Like to Tinker? NASA's Looking for You - New York Times: "STEVE JONES doesn't have a workshop, exactly, for his miniature space elevator; he is designing it in his dorm room and in four labs scattered across the University of British Columbia.

NASA sponsors 13 competitions, including, clockwise from top, for designing long-duration vehicles; developing more flexible and sensitive astronauts' gloves; removing lunar dirt, which is as hard as concrete and difficult to excavate; and creating safer aircraft. He doesn't have a staff, either; a collection of friends and fellow space enthusiasts volunteer to help. And his budget, in the low five figures, comes mostly from the school activities fund, although Red Bull is donating some energy drinks. "