DIY (Page 26)

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

Latest in DIY

Three mason jars with homemade fabric dye and some dyed shirts inside them. From left to right: purple, orange, and pink.

Make natural fabric dye with vegetable scraps

By Natalie Wallington

A tiger swallowtail butterfly puddling and drinking water in a muddy area.

Butterflies drink more than nectar—here’s how to turn your yard into an oasis

By Kristine Nemec

Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo

Google vs. DuckDuckGo vs. Bing—is it time to switch your search engine?

hand holding iphone with duckduckgo app

Ditch Google for good with these apps and gadgets

Google Chrome Actions displayed on Apple Safari

Chrome Actions are the most useful browsing tool you’ve never heard of

A woman using an Apple Macbook laptop while another woman watches from nearby.

How to cover your tracks while you’re browsing the web

A refinished wooden side table with black iron legs, on a hardwood floor next to a pink armchair.

Upgrade your stooping game by learning how to refinish a table

By Shawn Shinneman

A carnivorous Mexican butterwort plant next to a non-carnivorous plant.

What killed my carnivorous plants?

By Ellen Airhart

Pot of melted chocolate

How to temper chocolate—even in hot weather

By Natalie Wallington

A person standing in a glass shower, washing their hair, with soap suds on the glass shower door.

How often should I shower?

By John Kennedy

Young child sitting at a table looking at a tablet

When to have the online-security talk with your kids

By Jean Levasseur

Person putting cloth face mask on a small child

How to sanitize a face mask safely and easily

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A bar cart with lined-up bottles of infused syrup.

Craft herbaceous homemade drinks with simple syrup infusions

By LaVonne Roberts

Person holding iPhone

Stop your streaming apps from eating all your data

An Android phone and an iPhone next to each other on a gray tile floor.

Make your Android and Apple devices work together

a man using an Apple Watch outside to use his smartphone less

Trying to use your smartphone less? Get a smartwatch.

By Harry Guinness

Did your hard drive crash? Here’s how to know if it’s safe to use again.

By Whitson Gordon

Person-working-on-desktop-computer

How to edit screenshots on any device

A person wearing a wide-brimmed hat sitting on some rocks high above a bright blue glacial lake in the mountians.

How to avoid camping with snakes, and other valuable outdoor lessons

By Noah Lederman

Make a custom rubber stamp to leave your mark on everything

By Natalie Wallington

An Apple Find My map displaying the location of David's iPhone.

How to find a lost phone

A person holding an iPhone and looking through the camera app at some tall buildings.

Your phone’s camera does so much more than take pictures

A blue recycling bin with a recycling symbol on it.

What do the numbers on plastic mean? And 3 other trashy questions, answered.

By Natalie Wallington

Hand holding iphone with facebook messenger on the screen

Learn to use Facebook Messenger’s new encryption option for group chats and calls

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

outdoors compositing pile with veggies

How to keep food, plastic, and fabric out of the landfill

By Jennifer Ball

View from inside a catio with white cat on a swing

Tips to build the safest, most purr-fect catio for your feline overlord

Screenshot of the home screen of an iPhone showing the messages app with one unread message.

How to save your text messages from disappearing when you get a new phone

A man snoring in a white bed, while a woman angrily holds a pillow over her ears next to him.

How to stop snoring and spread the gift of better sleep

By Whitson Gordon

A person speaking to a group of people who are sitting at a wooden table with laptops in front of them.

Exude power and confidence with better body language

By Natalie Wallington

A person looking through messages on their phone, maybe trying to find their group chats.

10 tips for making your group chats less terrible

Hands polishing fancy leather shoes on a fancy wooden table.

A complete guide to shining your fancy leather shoes

Hands holding phone using WhatsApp

How to get rid of the ‘forwarded’ label on WhatsApp

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person typing on a laptop.

How to unsubscribe from all your newsletters at once

A small child wearing floaties on their arms and waist while playing in the surf of a tropical beach.

How to help kids feel confident in the ocean

By Noah Lederman

The Château de Chambord in Chambord, France, which may not make a great memory palace.

A ‘memory palace’ is your secret tool for remembering information

By Natalie Wallington

Person using laptop running Windows 11

How to download and test Windows 11 before its official launch

person holding open newsletter covering face

The best platforms to launch your own email newsletter

Light brown dog rising its paw as in a greeting

Moisturize your pup’s pads with some DIY paw balm

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A ladybug on a leaf.

Fight household pests with a friendly army of plants and insects

By Ellen Airhart

Brown mushrooms growing on a green, mossy surface.

Grow your own mushrooms in a homemade terrarium

By Natalie Wallington

Microphone conference calls

Tips for better sound better on video conference calls

By Stan Horaczek

A person holding their phone while drinking coffee, possibly deleting text message attachments from their device.

Delete message attachments on your phone to free up space

By John Kennedy

An owl sitting on the branch of an evergreen tree in the forest.

Transform your yard into an owl kingdom

By Natalie Wallington

xbox-controller

Change your controller’s button configuration for more comfortable gameplay

A white-and-black PlayStation 5 controller on top of a white-and-black PS5.

How to optimize your PS5’s storage space so you don’t run out immediately

A person using their phone while wearing a face mask and wearing a red plaid shirt.

Custom vibrations and other ways to shake up your smartphone messages

How To Turn A Barf Bag Into A Phone Mount

How To Turn A Barf Bag Into A Phone Mount

By Amanda Schupak

A normal person’s guide to buying an old film camera

By Stan Horaczek

Bean soup served with avocado, cheese and eggs.

Feed a family for a week with a single bag of beans

By Jose Mendoza, Mary Kearl

A person sitting on the floor, holding several $100 bills in a fan shape.

7 tips for saving electricity this summer

By Natalie Wallington

Person holding an Apple Watch to the camera

7 tips and tricks to master your Apple Watch

Portable multimeter Cen-tech P34907

Tool Smackdown: Pocket Multimeters

A black Mercedes-Benz in a parking lot.

How I converted my Mercedes-Benz to run on veggie oil

An electronic Post-It note

Build it: the electronic Post-It note

By Dave Prochnow

Person inserting cassette in cassette player.

A modern guide to cassette tape players

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

The menu for web browser options, with "mute site" selected.

How to block pop-ups and annoying auto-play videos

man pointing a Homemade Water Blaster

How To Build Your Own DIY Water Blaster

By Daniel Dumas

Night sky photography is perfect for social distancing. Here’s how to get a great shot.

Night sky photography is perfect for social distancing. Here’s how to get a great shot.

By Dan Richards

Amp Your Ride

By as told to Colleen Park, Doug Costlow

White wireless router in front of person on a couch

6 router settings you should change right now

By Whitson Gordon

An unlocked iPhone on a white table with its apps showing various notification icons and alerts.

How to ignore people on social media without blocking or unfollowing them

Couple waits by the NYC train platform looking at their phones

Google Maps made some key changes. Use them to improve your commute.

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A Kobo e-reader leaning against a stack of books next to a glass jar with yellow flowers in it.

7 fun features that you need to try on your Kobo e-reader

A brown scorpion on a light brown rock during the daytime.

Everything you need to know about scorpion stings and venom

By Alisha McDarris