Let’s be honest: this year—and especially the last few weeks—have been pretty rough. And the science nerds among us are just as stressed out as everyone else. (Climate change, oh god climate change what are we going to do.) So when picking the perfect gifts for them this holiday season, why not choose something to help relieve stress and calm the mind?
In the gallery below, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite scienspired and de-stressifying gifts we’ve seen over the course of the year. We’ve chosen to highlight one Instagram-famous repository of science gifts specifically this year, too—millions of views can’t be wrong. Some gifts are aimed at stress-relief specifically, others at education, and still more at that critical “take your mind off the terribleness of the world” mindset. Forget the world and politics with a mini-Tesla coil or expend all that nervous energy with a fidget cube.
And don’t forget: some of the gifts below will be featured in our upcoming giant annual holiday giveaway. Last year’s gift giveaway totaled thousands of dollars worth of geeky goodness, so make sure to check out the other gift guides running all this week and stay tuned for how to enter.
Which sciencey item do you most want to find in your stocking, set to relieve some of that existential terror? Let us know how you’ll be trying to massage the brain of a fellow nerd in the comments below.
Be sure to check out our complete holiday gift guide coverage.
And we’ll be rolling out even more gift guides every day this week!
