The Lava Lab Panel

“Six lamps, one liquid engine. Heat rises, mercury sinks, magnets pull, music stirs.” The lab is built differently from every other toy: there is no fixed slider row. Each lamp brings its own controls — pick a lamp and the panel rebuilds around its physics — and each lamp carries a one-line statement of its governing principle, written into the code like a museum placard that shipped inside the exhibit.

A status note from the maker, kept honest: this was the most time-consuming toy in the lab — and it still hasn't rendered even close to real life. The gap between the glass on the wall and the lamp on the shelf is the open problem the lab keeps.