DIY (Page 26)

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

Latest in DIY

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

Close up on an iPhone with a Siri activated screen

Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant all have alternate voices. Here’s how to find them.

A carpet of moss next to a brown rock.

Why and how to grow your own moss garden

By Ellen Airhart

A stack of pancakes topped with berries and edible flowers, on a white plate atop a white tablecloth.

7 edible flowers and how to use them

By Natalie Wallington

A laptop on a desk with Spotify on the screen. A camera, a plant, and a full mug of coffee share the desk with the laptop.

The best ways to recover deleted Spotify playlists

A cross-stitched QR code.

How to cross-stitch a QR code—and why you should

By Ruth Kogen Goodwin

Brown stink bug about to land in a bug trap

3 DIY bug traps that actually work

A child sitting under a stool, trying to guess the password on a phone.

A guide to parental controls on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services

Person on computer

You should download the new Google Drive for Desktop

Close up to aloe vera plant

How to grow, harvest, preserve, and use aloe vera

By LaVonne Roberts

How To Add Applications To Your Nook E-Reader

How To Add Applications To Your Nook E-Reader

Person applying sheet mask

7 things you can do to actually prevent wrinkles

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

The steering wheel and dashboard of a car at night.

What Android Auto and Apple CarPlay can and can’t do

The 360 Chicago observatory and other skyscrapers along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

From Chicagoan to Phoenician, here’s what to call the residents of the biggest US cities

By Jennifer Billock

It’s time to pick a better smartphone photo editing app

It’s time to pick a better smartphone photo editing app

By Stan Horaczek

A person sitting on a bed, enjoying playing a keyboard that's hooked up to a laptop.

5 tech tricks for learning a musical instrument

By Gina Wisener

three-framed-photos-on-wall

The scientifically best way to create a photo gallery wall

By Maridel Reyes

A person holding an Android phone with a live background.

Fix your boring Android background with live wallpapers

White liquid marshmallow.

The anatomy of a marshmallow

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

Make DIY cold brew coffee—without fancy equipment

Make DIY cold brew coffee—without fancy equipment

By Cassidy Mayeda

Teenager dipping toes into a lake or ocean

Your summer guide to sunscreen, from SPF to not-so-magic pills

By Sara Chodosh

Husks of vintage film cameras and lenses littering workbench

Inside New York City’s vanishing community of repair shops

By Stan Horaczek

The Milky Way at night over mountains.

The best ways to reduce light pollution and improve your quality of life

By Alisha McDarris

A person gardening in a wooden planter box.

Plant a garden that helps the planet by devouring carbon

By Ellen Airhart

Hurricane Florence in the Atlantic

How to prepare for a hurricane that’s about to hit

By Sophie Bushwick

Yogurt marinades make meat perfectly tender—here’s why

Yogurt marinades make meat perfectly tender—here’s why

Listen To Records With Your Teeth

The 8 Best Student Tech Projects At Microsoft’s Imagine Cup

The 8 Best Student Tech Projects At Microsoft’s Imagine Cup

Frustrated couple in bed

How to share a bed with a restless sleeper

By Jennifer Billock

bike resting against wall

How to wheel your way through the global bike shortage

A person sitting at a table in an office, typing on a laptop computer.

Text expanders are the magical productivity tool you need to master

By Eric Ravenscraft

Bacterial zoo in a bottle

Grow A Bacterial Zoo In A Bottle

Electrical fan against window

How to stay cool if you lose power during a heatwave

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

Male red-winged blackbird

How to decode the secret language of birds

How to book the cheapest flights possible

How to book the cheapest flights possible

Prevent your phone from distracting you while driving

Prevent your phone from distracting you while driving

How to watch foreign TV at home

Smart homes for beginners

Smart homes for beginners

Multiple desktops on a Mac computer.

Get more screen space than you ever imagined with virtual desktops

A swimming pool, from under the water.

It’s surprisingly hard to tell if someone’s drowning, so we made you a guide

By Whitson Gordon