DIY (Page 13)

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

Latest in DIY

Loxley Browne (right) CEO and founder of Club Athena in California with Akshaya Koramutla, the Student Advisory Board President.

This STEM club for girls turned a real BMW into a sweet racing simulator

By Kristin Shaw

A woman wearing a black shirt leaning over a dead computer with her hands on her temples, wondering how she can get her silver Macbook to turn back on, or how she can recover files from it.

How to save a dead computer, or at least try to revive it

Three people hiking in the rain wearing raincoats.

How to stay dry and safe while hiking in the rain

By Alisha McDarris

A person sitting in a dark room playing video games with a two-monitor computer set up.

4 Discord alternatives for work and play

Person holding laptop and a white reusable water bottle.

You’re probably not washing your water bottle often enough

By Amanda Svachula

Opened silica gel packet on a wood countertop, ready for someone to find another use for them.

6 clever ways to reuse silica gel packets

By Bridget Reed Morawski

The Mozilla Firefox office building.

11 hot Firefox tips and tricks that might finally convince you to switch browsers

White-skinned person pouring ice cubes into bath with a dark-skinned person recovering after a workout. Illustrated in orange, white, and black.

The best way to relieve sore muscles after a brutal workout

Baby sleeping naked in a white hammock

Why you should sleep naked tonight, according to science

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A hand holding a phone showing a QR code for sharing WiFi.

The easiest ways to share your WiFi password

By Whitson Gordon

A male and a female mallard duck in some green grass by some bushes.

Don’t feed ducks bread. Here’s what to give them instead.

By Natalie Wallington

Hand writing on notebook

How to improve your handwriting

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Hand sanitizer bottle and hands.

How to make hand sanitizer

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Person with dark skin and short hair jumps rope while pregnant person with light skin and hair in a bun squats and lifts dumbells. Illustrated in orange, black, and gray.

The 6 essential parts of an effective workout

By Frankie de la Cretaz

Tabby cat on hardwood floors playing with a fabric toy resembling a mouse

5 ways to ensure your cat actually likes playtime

By Jamie Helmick

Mammatus types of clouds over a lighthouse and rocky coast

A scientific guide to clouds, even the ones that look like udders

By Briley Lewis

An elderly person with short gray hair, wearing a pink shirt and jeans, with their hands on the shoulders of a kid they're teaching how to ride a bike. The child is wearing a red helmet and using a balance bike on a park path.

Pro tips for teaching a kid how to ride a bike

By Jean Levasseur

Person in a suit and tie sitting outside in front of their computer, looking frustrated.

How to get rid of the giant ads blocking your favorite websites

Senior man and woman in wheelchair

How to get through to your aging parents without arguing

By Judith Graham / KFF Health News

split screen showing phone with halo on one side, phone with horns on the other

The Opt Out: 10 rules for better internet etiquette

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

hands typing on laptop keyboard

Prove your writing is not AI-generated by tracking changes in your docs

A person wearing running shorts holding their thigh on a beach, potentially wondering what happens when you pull a muscle, because they probably just did.

Here’s what really happens when you pull a muscle

By Nicole Wetsman

Person outdoors holding a white iPhone on their hands.

What to know about Apple’s new Rapid Security Response updates

Person on yoga mat doing bridge exercise to work out muscles in core, neck, and back. Illustrated in red, black, white, and gray.

A guide to the muscles you forget to exercise

By Jamie Helmick

Wall covered in ripped posters and stickers.

How to use science to remove sticker residue

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person sitting in front of a laptop that has a skull and crossbones in green code on the screen, indicating that it may have been infected with malware that they'll now need to remove.

How to remove malware from your suffering computer

Pink feathery muhly grass are one the many native types of grass you plant in the US.

9 native grasses that will revitalize your sad, water-wasting lawn

By Helen Bradshaw

A Minecraft world with multiple mods installed, and a tiger in the foreground.

Customize your Minecraft experience by installing a creeper-load of mods

By Jamie Helmick

Seemingly happy person listening to music on earbuds

Social media posts are better with music. Here’s how to add your favorite tunes.

A kitchen counter with a tray of drying seed bombs, a bowl with a mixture of powdered clay and potting mix, and two seed packets for rosemary and lavender.

Make your own seed bombs to garden on the go

By Jamie Helmick

A MacBook sitting next to an iPad used as a second screen.

You should use your iPad as a second screen

Screenshot of photo editing in Adobe Lightroom Classic

5 AI tools in Adobe Lightroom Classic to boost your photo editing

A Windows 10 laptop on a desk under a desk lamp, with the Windows desktop on the screen.

How to reset Windows 10 or 11 without losing everything

By John Kennedy

DeWalt power tools arranged on a plain background

Save more than 45% on DeWalt power tools at Amazon right now

By Stan Horaczek

A mouse eating a morsel of food, a scene that would prompt many to wonder how to get rid of mice.

How to get rid of mice and keep them away

By Mary Beth Griggs

Hands on laptop typing.

How to find your IP address whenever you need it

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person typing on a laptop and editing on photoshop.

5 AI-powered Photoshop tools to subtly—or dramatically—alter your images

Box of iHealth COVID rapid tests being distributed at a school before the US COVID public health emergency ended

Your guide to COVID testing for the unforeseeable future

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Screenshot of MusicBrainz Picard sorting a music album.

Use MusicBrainz Picard to organize your sloppy music collection

A black Apple TV 4K box on a black surface next to an Apple TV remote.

14 crisp tips for your Apple TV box

A hand holding a phone and scanning a QR code from a tablet.

How to make a QR code and share digital data with anyone, anywhere

Best dash cams under $100 sliced header

The best dash cams under $100

By John Alexander

A person wearing barefoot shoes that form around their toes, sitting on a rock overlooking a body of water.

For a better hike, try swapping clunky boots for barefoot shoes

By Alisha McDarris

A man wearing a black sweatshirt using a laptop on a DIY wooden laptop stand on a wooden table.

This DIY laptop stand will help keep your computer cool

By Jean Levasseur

Screen showing the ChatGPT welcome screen

3 ways to prevent ChatGPT from using you as training data

Laptop with google account screen showing how to set up passkeys

Ditch your Google password and set up a passkey instead

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Windows computer showing the Nearby Share app from Android.

You can now use Android’s Nearby Share on PC

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person using a white MacBook laptop on a white table, maybe figuring out how to remove bloatware.

Make sure your computer isn’t downloading stuff you don’t want

An iPhone on a notebook next to a Macbook on a wooden table, showing the Count notification display option on the iPhone's screen.

3 ways to change how iPhone notifications appear

By John Kennedy

Earth's horizon and Pacific Ocean photographed by NASA astronauts on the International Space Station. The planet's curvature proves that the Earth is round, not flat.

10 ways you can tell the Earth is round

By Moriel Schottlender

A woman punching through a laptop screen while shouting.

How to block toxic comments everywhere

By Whitson Gordon

A person using a laptop computer with Google on the screen.

4 ways to protect your Google search history

Three people standing on a high rock, looking at a beach downhill.

5 apps to organize your next group outing

Teddy bear sitting in a corner and hands peeking from the corner with a phone taking pictures of the teddy bear.

The Opt Out: Read this before sharing another photo of a kid online

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person putting a DVD or Blu-ray disc into a black laptop, potentially to back it up.

You should back up your Blu-rays and DVDs before they break

The view of Zion National Park from Lava Point.

A beginner’s guide to visiting national parks

By Nadia Bajuelo

Zoom into the trackpad on a MacBook Pro

Your Mac’s trackpad doesn’t have to be basic. Here’s how to customize it.

collage made from old magazine photograph and blueprints

A 1967 foot-powered tool you could build today—if you wanted to

By Bill Gourgey

A person in a tan sweater sitting at a laptop computer on a wooden table.

Free up space on your laptop by moving all your files to the cloud

By David Nield, Sandra Gutierrez G.

Person rides a mountain bike on an outdoor trail.

How to start mountain biking this summer

By Alisha McDarris

A TV with the Stranger Things title screen on it, in a dark room bathed in purple light. Exactly what you might see if you're binge-watching instead of going to sleep.

How to stream movies and shows without destroying your sleep

An empty Gmail inbox.

6 Gmail sorting tips for a more efficient and less chaotic inbox

A Dell laptop compatible with Windows keyboard shortcuts on a wooden table with a coffee mug beside it.

20 essential Windows keyboard shortcuts that will make you forget your mouse

Facebook loading screen

Facebook probably owes you money. Here’s how to get it.

By Harry Guinness