The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recruited the public for a massive, Antiques Road Show-style project. Sadly, there won't be a British narrator while you go through their online digital archives, but there will be a chance to proffer clues about a wide range of old school scientific devices. Visitors can look through the images in the digital archives, emailing NIST with any information they might have about the objects. Knit together, the collective clues will have the potential to uncover the dates and uses of these somewhat enigmatic gadgets that are in the NIST museum collection.

Click here to see some of the scientific instruments and take a gander at what they might be.