Life Skills

Research-backed advice to make your daily life a little better—or at least a little easier.

Latest in Life Skills

How to make a sourdough starter—and keep it alive
DIY

How to make a sourdough starter—and keep it alive

By Nicole Wetsman

How to test your tap water for lead
DIY

How to test your tap water for lead

By Kendra Pierre-Louis

You should make fermented veggies—for science
DIY

You should make fermented veggies—for science

By Mary Beth Griggs

17 must-have tools for backcountry adventures
DIY

17 must-have tools for backcountry adventures

By Michael R. Shea and Will Brantley / Field & Stream

Garden Hose: July 1955
DIY

Archive Gallery: Offbeat Uses for Common Household Objects

By Denise Ngo

Your routines might be screwing with your body. Here’s how to fix it.
DIY

Your routines might be screwing with your body. Here’s how to fix it.

By Claire Maldarelli

Heart Disease
DIY

Your schedule could be killing you

By Leslie Kaufman

This man would like to kill your holidays
DIY

This man would like to kill your holidays

By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling

How to publish your own ebook
DIY

How to publish your own ebook

By David Nield

greenwood grill
DIY

How to grill meat over an open fire

By Tim MacWelch/ Outdoor Life

How to avoid email pileups
DIY

How to avoid email pileups

By Ellenore Angelidis / Working Mother

Find fake photos
DIY

Spot faked photos using digital forensic techniques

By Stan Horaczek

injured hiker
Health

What to do if you break your leg in the middle of nowhere

By Kate Baggaley

How to make new friends as an adult
DIY

How to make new friends as an adult

By David Nield

Three tricks for staving off hunger in a survival situation
DIY

Three tricks for staving off hunger in a survival situation

By Tim MacWelch/ Outdoor Life

Five map and compass skills every outdoorsman should master
DIY

Five map and compass skills every outdoorsman should master

By Keith McCafferty/Field & Stream

grill
DIY

9.5 tips to scientifically enhance your grill game

By Joe Brown

How to go ultralight camping
DIY

How to go ultralight camping

By Rob Verger

How to avoid bringing bed bugs home from vacation
DIY

How to avoid bringing bed bugs home from vacation

By Nancy Troyano / Working Mother

three plants
DIY

Make a copy of this common office plant

By Mary Beth Griggs

The fastest way to chill your beer
DIY

The fastest way to chill your beer

By Sara Chodosh

The most efficient way to brush and floss
Health

The most efficient way to brush and floss

By Claire Maldarelli

This is why you should beat egg whites in a copper bowl
DIY

This is why you should beat egg whites in a copper bowl

By Sara Chodosh

Surprising things you can clean in the dishwasher
DIY

Surprising things you can clean in the dishwasher

By Sophie Bushwick and Billy Cadden

The easiest way to kick your caffeine habit
DIY

The easiest way to kick your caffeine habit

By Claire Maldarelli

The scientifically best way to sweep a floor
DIY

The scientifically best way to sweep a floor

By Rob Verger

How to not die in a blizzard
Health

How to not die in a blizzard

By Sara Chodosh

How to fix a leaky faucet
DIY

How to fix a leaky faucet

By David Nield

How to survive the ‘Little House’ books
DIY

How to survive the ‘Little House’ books

By Sophie Bushwick

Erasing graffiti
DIY

How to erase permanent-marker graffiti

By Sophie Bushwick

Photograph the night sky with your phone
DIY

How to photograph the night sky on a phone

By Sophie Bushwick

Here’s what’s inside the modern explorer’s survival kit
DIY

Here’s what’s inside the modern explorer’s survival kit

By Sara Chodosh and Peter Hess

Here’s how to wrap a spherical gift, according to scientists
DIY

Here’s how to wrap a spherical gift, according to scientists

By Sophie Bushwick

Homemade whipped cream
DIY

How to survive the great whipped cream shortage of 2016

By Sophie Bushwick

Cockroach tea and cricket crepes: How to add (delicious) bugs to your diet
DIY

Cockroach tea and cricket crepes: How to add (delicious) bugs to your diet

By Rachel Feltman

How to sharpen your kitchen knives
DIY

How to sharpen your kitchen knives

By Sara Chodosh

Why We Always Get Sick While Traveling – And How To Prevent It
Health

Why We Always Get Sick While Traveling – And How To Prevent It

By

Cut a better slice of pizza with math
DIY

Cut a better slice of pizza with math

By Lindsey Kratochwill

stuffing in turkey
Science

How To Bake Stuffing Without Overcooking Your Turkey

By Matt Giles

5 Ways To Support Minority STEM Students
DIY

5 Ways To Support Minority STEM Students

By Nicole Lou

9 Crazy Body Hacks That Give You Superhuman Powers
DIY

9 Crazy Body Hacks That Give You Superhuman Powers

By Bob Parks

How To Be A Brilliant Inventor
DIY

How To Be A Brilliant Inventor

By

The Disappearance Of The Instruction Manual
DIY

The Disappearance Of The Instruction Manual

By Mark Svenvold

Changing Food By Changing Its pH
DIY

Changing Food By Changing Its pH

By Harold McGee

How One Man Hacked His Way Out Of Homelessness
DIY

How One Man Hacked His Way Out Of Homelessness

By Rose Conry

5 Educational Programs For Learning By Making
DIY

5 Educational Programs For Learning By Making

By Alexandra Ossola

Can We Hack Our Vision To See Infrared With The Naked Eye?
DIY

Can We Hack Our Vision To See Infrared With The Naked Eye?

By Alexandra Ossola

How To Cure Garlic Breath
DIY

How To Cure Garlic Breath

By Lindsey Kratochwill

Lost At Sea? Survive With These Tricks
DIY

Lost At Sea? Survive With These Tricks

By Jia You

Good Idea/Bad Idea: Use A Belt Sander To…
DIY

Good Idea/Bad Idea: Use A Belt Sander To…

By Mac Irvine

The World’s Nerdiest Marriage Proposal
DIY

The World’s Nerdiest Marriage Proposal

By Francie Diep

How do you make the perfect snowball?
Science

How do you make the perfect snowball?

By Daniel Engber

The Canning Jar: Ultra-Versatile Tool of the Modern Kitchen
DIY

The Canning Jar: Ultra-Versatile Tool of the Modern Kitchen

By Paul Adams

Tool School: A Quicker Way to Cut Steel
DIY

Tool School: A Quicker Way to Cut Steel

By Vin Marshall

Shelves full of blue Rubbermaid Roughneck containers. The bottom shelf has large 18-gallon containers, and the shelf above that has double-stacked 10-gallon containers.
DIY

Shop tip: Organize your life with Rubbermaid totes

By Vin Marshall

An inactive oxy-acetylene torch on a concrete floor.
DIY

Tool School: Break out the torch

By Vin Marshall

Vernier calipers on a light wooden surface.
DIY

Tool School: How to get the most precise measurements

By Vin Marshall

Ferrofluid forming a pile of conical shapes.
DIY

How to make ferrofluid

By Mikey Sklar

Three welding tools on a concrete floor.
DIY

Welding, part one: gear selection

By John B. Carnett

Advantage 420 Half Mask Respirator
DIY

Five Tools To Survive the Apocalypse

By Suzanne LaBarre

A white woman with short black-and-gray hair looking excited behind a chocolate bundt cake with a large slice taken out of it.
DIY

A scientific approach to dessert

By M. Farbman

The white, browned meringue on top of a baked Alaska.
DIY

I don’t know: Alaska

By Laura Silver

Eight stalks of celery, raw and cooked in different ways.
DIY

Shades of green

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

scientist injecting turkey
DIY

Turkey Day chemistry in the kitchen

By Tamara Holt

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