Christmas Gift Guide 2017: 20 gadget gift ideas for mad scientists

23andme Personal Genetics Kit (from £79)

If you fancy telling someone about the 100+ health conditions they might have – and the risk factors they’ve probably inherited – you might not be a very nice person. But you very well might want to give them this kit.

Tapping into the vast amounts of data human DNA can reveal, 23andMe will send you a package with all the instructions and tech you need to extract that info. They’ll then do all the testing before giving you your expected death date. OK, that last bit was a lie – but it’s still pretty spooky.

Celestron Micro Fi Wi-Fi Handheld Microscope (£160)

No mini-lab would be complete without a dinky microsope – and they don’t come much cooler than this Wi-Fi enabled zoomer from Celestron.

Magnify your favourite bugs, rocks and bits of skin up to 80x, whilst streaming the dirty details to a nearby Apple or Android smart device. Sure, you could opt for the less expensive wired version – but for true mad scientists, cable-free is the way to go.

Air Power Engine Car (£15)

Teach your kids an eco lesson with this nifty air-powered car kit.

Piece together its Meccano-like components, pump air into the bottle and – whoosh! – it’s travelled 50 metres in 35 seconds. Straight into the new TV. Who needs the Queen’s speech, anyway?

Virtuali-Tee (£25)

Oh, sure – when you say “I want to see what your internal organs look like” it’s taken as a dangerous threat and all of your scalpels are confiscated.

But when they put some funny markings on a t-shirt and pair it with an AR smartphone app that the shows lungs, heart and various gloopy bits as they sit behind the ribcage, it’s all fun and games. Unfair, huh?

Kano Pixel Kit (£75)

Any self-respecting scientist should have a basic grasp of coding. Not so that they can take over the world by hacking into some unsuspecting national mainframe, mind. No, even boffins need their down time – and this dinky kit from Kano will give them the skills to bodge together a tiny disco in a jiffy.

Using simple, drag-and-drop components in the partner app, it’ll teach unsuspecting tinkerers the basics of programming, without a textbook in sight. Start with a light show, move on to a mini-game and, before you can say “night fever”, you’ll have a sound-activated Pac Man lighting up your evil lair.

MaKey MaKey (£40)

This mini Arduino board turns anything an alligator clip will attach to (food, Play-Doh, in-laws) into keys to liven up your computer controls.

Fun for testing what conducts electricity around the house, just attach the clips on to the objects of your choice, plug them into your PC via USB and tap away to your heart’s content. Want to play Super Mario Bros with a twig? Or turn a banana into a piano? Go right ahead.

For science on the road, there’s also the MaKey MaKey Go.

MekaMon (£300)

Know a scientist who’s stuck on the secret of sentient robotics? Give them a break from their AI ambitions with another set of initials: this robo-droid is a customisable critter that’ll fire AR shots across your living room.

MekaMon might be a real robot (one that responds to your touch, no less), but it truly comes alive on your iPhone or iPad screen, battling hoards of imagined enemies or lobbing volleys at your buddies’ ‘bots. Get Jake Humphrey to stand in your kitchen and you’ve got a much better version of Bamzooki.

Sugru 8-pack (£13)

A perfect stocking filler for insatiable tinkerers, Sugru is a self-setting rubber that can be moulded into any shape and will bond with everything from glass to wood to metal.

It’s flexible when it cures, and is both waterproof and electrically-insulating. In fact, you can use it for anything from sealing engine parts to shock-proofing a camera. Think of it as Silly Putty for grown-ups – or the perfect plaything for kinaesthetic kids.

Anki Cozmo (£200)

Locked away for hours in the lab, it’s little wonder your friends deserted you in favour of Stand-Up Gary down the local.

Show them you don’t need human friends by adopting Anki’s Cozmo. A compact companion who’s cleverer than most of your mates, little Coz’ will do a lot more than just play games: besides building a virtual map of its environment, this little ‘bot can recognise faces and respond accordingly. Which is more than you can say of the usual crew after a few pints.

Science Table Lamp (£62)

True scientists see meal times as nothing more than the purely practical consumption of the nutrition necessary to sustain and nourish the human body and mind.

Bring a little dinner time romance back to the table with this lab bottle lamp, improving the ambience through the medium of cold hard science.

Chemistry Glass Terrarium Kit (£30)

Remember how Mr Simpkins banned you from using the chemistry lab for your ‘herbal experiments’? Well, you did your detention and got your C in combined science. Now there’s no-one to stop you from growing.

Show those textbooks who’s boss by fostering life itself in this specially adapted conical flask. Complete with soil, sand, pebbles and activated charcoal, plant some succulent seeds, add water and watch as photosynthesis does the rest.

Structure Sensor (from US$379)

Next-gen sci–jinks don’t come cooler than the Structure Sensor. This Kinect-style clip–on for your iPad lets you 3D-scan faces, objects and even whole rooms. It makes AR games better, can track the hands of Oculus Rift wearers and lets you place virtual furniture in real rooms.

Initially a wildly successful Kickstarter project, you can now buy one online for all kinds of iPad – including the iPad Pro – meaning multi-dimensional mapping for every tablet-toter.

Nikon Nature 8×30 EII Binoculars (£549)

Binoculars for Christmas mean your birdwatching pal can get some practice in on geese and ducks before the real rook-, heron- and grebe-spotting season begins in March.

This pair has a lightweight magnesium alloy body, 8x magnification and a wide 63.2º field of view. If you’re really thoughtful, you’ll chuck in the optional tripod adapter as a stocking filler.

Doctor Who Twelfth Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote (£63)

Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver can do pretty much anything, from re-attaching barbed wire to igniting swamp gas. And, thanks to this faithful replica from The Wand Company, it can also control your TV this Christmas.

Hand-polished and complete with a realistic extending end, this metal replica is all the Who you could ask for besides the Christmas special. For which, incidentally, this can turn on the telly.

Russian Space Prints set (£48)

Your mate Aleksander will love these space prints. Not because he’s Russian (as he’s reminded you several times, he’s from Kent); rather, because he’s a lover of both space and retro-themed posters.

Thus, this wall art will be perfect for the launch control room of his back-garden rocket programme. Unless Neighbourhood Watch get to it first, that is.

Floating Globe (£12)

Time was, spinning your trusty globe and poking a chemical-stained finger at your next target was enough to strike fear into the hearts of any captive spies that happened to be nearby. Nowadays, it’s all cyber crime and VPNs.

Show the new generation that old is gold with this Earth-styled orb that floats, as if by magic. Except it’s not magic, it’s science. And if that doesn’t deserve an evil laugh, nothing does.

Smartphone Hologram Projector (£5)

What better way to deliver your evil genius messages than via hologram? Simply stick your smartphone beneath this nifty stocking filler, and you’ll have floating footage before you know it.

Based on the principle of Pepper’s Ghost, have a look around YouTube and you’ll find hundreds of videos perfect for making paranormal projections with this little kit.

The Quantum Moment: How Planck, Bohr, Einstein and Heisenberg Taught Us To Love Uncertainty (from £14)

Make any science fan feel clever with this accessible study of quantum mechanics. Parallel worlds, quantum leaps, time travel… it’s all here, together with accounts of historical fights between the likes of Einstein and Schrodinger plus modern manifestations of the theory in architecture, sculpture and John Updike novels.

Get them the hardcover not the Kindle edition – they’ll want to show this one off.

Sphero Mini (£50)

What’s the difference between Sphero Mini and a snooker ball? One reacts to your facial expressions, the other causes them, as you mis-cue a shot on black and lose the entire game.

Once your fit of chalky rage subsides, you can get back to mucking around with the smallest of Sphero’s spherical droids. Smartphone-controlled and fully programmable, this dinky ‘bot can also be steered with your face – so the snooker club really will see you rolling.

Ah! Element of Surprise Mug (£12)

Besides quantum physics and a healthy dose of Newton, little gets the heart of a scientist beating like a good periodic table pun.

Think the best jokes argon? They’ll be slapping their neon this one, with an unexpected funny on the side of their coffee cup. It’s enough to make anyone say helium twice.