DIY (Page 12)

PopSci's curated collection of life skills, tech tips, and hands-on projects we think you'll love.

Latest in DIY

A shower of Perseids meteors lights up the sky in 2009 in this NASA time-lapse image.

Two full moons, colorful meteors, and an asteroid will light up August’s sky

By Laura Baisas

A redheaded person in a blue plaid shirt sitting at a desktop computer, doing work and trying to minimize distractions while working from home.

How to avoid distractions while working from home

By Whitson Gordon

A man holding a laptop in an airport and looking at the flight board.

3 ways to make your laptop battery last longer—maybe all day

Borax powder in multicolor scoops on a blue background

Don’t drink or douche with Borax, no matter what TikTok tells you

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A person demonstrating how to safely cross a river or creek in the outdoors

How to safely cross a running body of water on foot

By Alisha McDarris

A piece of toast with homemade vegan butter on it

How to make simple and delicious vegan butter

By Rachel Feltman

An iPhone connected to an empty can showing a failed call on the screen.

The Opt Out: Analog life is possible. But it’ll cost you.

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A desktop computer monitor with a waterfront scene on the screen.

Your computer monitor’s colors look bad because you haven’t calibrated them

A WiFi sign in a cafe.

WiFi 5 vs. WiFi 6: Which should you choose?

By Harry Guinness

A close up on a squared joint in a piece of wooden furniture using dados.

4 ways beginner woodworkers can craft impressively square joints

By Jean Levasseur

A person using a Macbook laptop with a web browser open on the screen. The more efficiently they use their browser, the longer their battery will last.

The browser settings that could save your laptop’s battery

A middle-aged man wearing a green plaid collared shirt with a silver Macbook on his lap. He is grinning as he adjusts some hidden settings to speed up his macOS laptop.

4 tips and hidden settings that will speed up macOS

Making slime is quick and fun.

The easiest way to make slime

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person holding a phone in landscape view, with a YouTube thumbnail on the screen, showing the exaggerated expression known as YouTube face.

The extension that will banish ‘YouTube face’ from your browser

A MacBook opens in the dark probably after restarting and installing the beta version of macOS 14 Sonoma.

6 new features in macOS 14 Sonoma’s public beta you have to try

A car passenger appears to feel nauseous with her hand to her mouth.

What causes motion sickness—and how to avoid it

A man wearing a purple sweater in front of a desktop computer with his hand on a computer mouse, looking intensely at the screen.

3 ways to generate a table of contents for virtually any website

iOS17 public beta includes the contact poster feature that allows to set what you want people to see when you call them.

6 great features to try out in the iOS 17 public beta

A short-haired teenage boy wearing a black shirt and grinning with his head stuck in a metal fence.

Read this if you or someone nearby is stuck in a fence

By John Kennedy

Hands typing on a laptop.

Find any file on your computer

I learned stick shift from the pros—here’s how it went

By Charlotte Hu

WhatsApp's new Privacy Checkup Menu allows you block calls from unknown numbers.

Blocking unknown callers and other WhatsApp privacy features you should turn on right now

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A pair of hands holds three homemade bath bombs over a bath tub full of water.

How to make your own bath bombs

By Rachel Feltman

The Microsoft Rewards dashboard shows how many points you've earned.

How Microsoft Rewards can help you benefit from being chronically online

a person showing a sunburn on their shoulder and back, probably looking for a sunburn treatment.

A sunburn treatment that actually works

By Sandra Gutierrez G., Claire Maldarelli

Three cows taking shelter near a house during a flash flood. A black one and a brown one are standing knee-deep in water, while a second brown one is standing on the porch.

Flash floods are rare, but deadly. Here’s how to be ready for them.

By Maria Parazo Rose

A person holding a black Android phone, possibly setting it to file transfer mode to back up their photos to their laptop.

The best ways to transfer photos from an Android to a computer

A person's hands on a smaller black keyboard in front of a larger black keyboard, perhaps figuring out how to use mouse keys to navigate their computer without a mouse.

How to use mouse keys to navigate your computer with only your keyboard

AI-website builders like Framer allow you to create websites from text prompts.

How Framer and other AI tools can help you build your own website

three stages of woman standing and lifting barbell

I lift heavy weights to soothe my fibromyalgia pain—here’s what the science says

By Urmi Bhattacheryya

Kidney beans black beans, corn, and tomatoes can all increase your daily fiber intake

Up your daily fiber intake for a happy microbiome

By Claire Maldarelli

hand holding a smartphone showing an internet speed test to check any home wifi congestion.

Speed up a slow home connection by checking for WiFi-guzzling apps

A person wearing a gold sweater and working on a laptop, possibly searching Google Drive and trying to find a lost file.

Use Google Drive’s Search Chips and never lose a file again

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Toybox 3D printer set up on a wooden table.

Toybox 3D printer review: A fun factory for kids and beginners

By John Alexander

Best 3D printers for cosplay sliced header

The best 3D printers for cosplay, according to experts

By John Alexander

A woman with black hair wearing a white shirt and standing in front of a body of water while looking very confused at her phone.

Apple is killing ‘My Photo Stream.’ Should you care?

A lineup of the best 3D printer filament on a white background

The best 3D printer filaments

A person holding a Google Pixel Tablet, showing a bird as the wallpaper and various apps on the screen with a clock and weather widget.

7 tips and tricks to master your Google Pixel Tablet

Hands holding a phone with photos on the screen, probably figuring out how to share photos without losing quality.

Use these settings to share photos at their best quality

Person with glasses working on computer in the dark, probably trying to find dark patterns on websites.

‘Dark patterns’ can ruin your online experience. Here’s how to avoid them.

A bunch of poison ivy leaves which you'll need to learn to spot to avoid an allergic reaction.

How to keep poison ivy from ruining outdoor fun

By Alisha McDarris

An iPhone on top of a Macbook laptop on a wooden table, with the iPhone displaying a spiral of crab emojis, which is one way you can edit your iOS 16 lock screen, if you're into that.

All the ways iOS 16 lets you edit your iPhone lock screen

By John Kennedy

A white cooler sitting in the sun on a concrete sidewalk by a large body of water.

The scientifically best way to pack a cooler

By John Kennedy

Fourth of July partygoers playing in red, white, and blue confetti, which could be a fireworks alternative

Celebrate a firework-less Fourth of July with drones, bubble guns, or confetti cannons

By Carla Delgado

An iPhone on a white table showing Facebook Messenger in dark mode.

How to turn on dark mode for all your gadgets and apps

By Whitson Gordon, John Kennedy

A distant shot of a hiker about to go downhill

How to hike downhill safely and comfortably

By Alisha McDarris

Four women sitting around two small, white, round tables having a conversation.

9 science-backed tips for better conversations

By Sofia Quaglia

Two pairs of AirPods on a wooden table next to a black iPhone and a Macbook.

How to connect 2 sets of headphones to 1 phone at the same time

A well-dressed Black man with a bald head smiling while looking at his phone, perhaps wondering how to delete a tweet.

Allow us to show you how to bulk-delete tweets

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Person using Slack on their laptop

Slack rolled out fancy new features. Here’s how to use them.

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person sitting with a black laptop on their lap, with their hands on the keyboard, ready to type.

Free typing apps that will help your fingers move faster

Person working out in living room with dumbbells.

How to start lifting weights—even if you’ve never picked up a dumbbell in your life

By Amanda Svachula

iPhone screen showing the Shortcuts app on iOS.

7 automations that will transform how you use your iPhone

A person wearing a yellow sweater and sitting at a wooden desk while using a silver Macbook laptop.

It’s time to buy the domain name of your dreams

A pale beige DIY wooden phone amplifier with a Jack Skellington fabric speaker cover on a black shelf against a white wall, with an iPhone inserted into the top, playing music from the band Durry.

Make your phone louder with this DIY wooden speaker

By Jean Levasseur

Tablet on stool showing Bing's AI-powered chat mode.

How to search the web with Bing’s new AI-powered chat mode

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person holding an empty photo frame up against a seaside cliff landscape, showing how an AI image extender can add pixels beyond the edge of an original photo.

How to use AI to expand the background of any image

Piles of music CDs

CDs are cool again. Here’s how to rip them.

Toilet on palm tree-filled beach

Why your poop gets weird on vacation—and what to do about it

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A wooden DIY device charging stand holding three tablets and an iPhone, on a black shelf against a white wall.

Clean up your cable clutter with this DIY charging station

By Jean Levasseur

Wifi antenna on laptop used by person outside

Installing a WiFi antenna can boost internet speeds all around your home

A woman running on a desert trail to burn the most calories.

These heart-pumping exercises burn the most calories

How pilots end up in a ‘death spiral’

How pilots end up in a ‘death spiral’

By Julia Craven

Person typing on laptop showing Google Chrome on the screen.

How to keep your Google Chrome extensions from snooping on you

By Sandra Gutierrez G.