Life Skills (Page 7)

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

Latest in Life Skills

Colorful clothes hanging on a laundry line outside on a sunny day—one of the best ways to reduce microplastic pollution from laundry.

The secret to longer-lasting clothes will also reduce plastic pollution

By Alisha McDarris

Two gray pigeons in a spotlight in a Rosemary Mosco cartoon

How to speak city pigeon

By Rosemary Mosco

A black-haired woman with her hair in a bun, sitting in bed with neck pain.

The best sleeping position for minimizing aches and pains

By Eleanor Cummins

A man wearing sunglasses, a blue t-shirt, and shorts falling face-first down some concrete exterior stairs, while dropping a pair of jeans.

5 common household injuries, and how to avoid them

By Jean Feingold

moose in a lake with mountains in the background

How to track and spot a wild moose

By Noah Lederman

A close-up view of a microscope and a specimen slide.

How to tell science from pseudoscience

By Natalie Wallington

a person walking a dog along a trail in the forest

The right way to walk your dog

By John Kennedy

kid holding puppy laughing

What you need to know before bringing a puppy home for your kids

By Jean Levasseur

Dog in the tub getting a bath

How to bathe, brush, and trim your pets at home

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

woman working with back pain

How to sit ergonomically without expensive equipment

By Whitson Gordon

Kid and puppy taking a nap on the couch as part of a healthy sleep schedule

How to get your kids on a healthy sleep schedule

By Jean Levasseur

How to survive a tsunami

How to survive a tsunami

By Kate Baggaley

A small mint plant growing roots in a glass jar full of water.

6 ways to magically regrow vegetables in only water

By Natalie Wallington

Row of neatly arranged food containers with salad.

How to start meal prepping ahead of a busy week

By Jean Levasseur

A person noseriding on a longboard, surfing a wave on greenish water.

Use physics to pull off gravity-defying surfing moves

By Noah Lederman

A small snake rearing up and looking forward.

The best ways to wrangle, repel, and just get snakes out of your home

By Natalie Wallington

A bear sleeping, maybe after eating its fill of trash.

How to keep fat bears (and other bears) out of your trash

By Natalie Wallington

A large home in California being threatened by a wildfire on a distant mountain at night.

Can you really use foil to fireproof your house?

By Natalie Wallington

A room with white walls and a hardwood floor with a small lamp in the corner that's lighting the area around a blue armchair.

Lighting tricks that will make small rooms feel gigantic

North american porcupine sitting on the ground among wild flower

How to not get pricked by a North American porcupine

By Natalie Wallington

A person using a neck gaiter as a face mask.

All the ways a neck gaiter is a multifunctional wonder

By Harry Guinness

A person pouring a bunch of salt into a metal cooking pot on a gas stove.

Quick fixes for common cooking mistakes

By John Kennedy

A person with glasses and curly, shoulder-length hair holding a flower and smelling it with their eyes closed.

How to enhance your senses of smell and taste

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A small, white one-story house with a blooming garden, under some large green trees.

Is your house safe? Use this checklist to find out.

By Jean Feingold

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

What killed my carnivorous plants?

By Ellen Airhart

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

Person putting cloth face mask on a small child

How to sanitize a face mask safely and easily

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

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

Trying to use your smartphone less? Get a smartwatch.

By Harry Guinness

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

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

outdoors compositing pile with veggies

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

By Jennifer Ball

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

Hands polishing fancy leather shoes on a fancy wooden table.

A complete guide to shining your fancy leather shoes

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

A ladybug on a leaf.

Fight household pests with a friendly army of plants and insects

By Ellen Airhart

How To Turn A Barf Bag Into A Phone Mount

How To Turn A Barf Bag Into A Phone Mount

By Amanda Schupak

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

A black Mercedes-Benz in a parking lot.

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

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

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

Everything you need to know about scorpion stings and venom

By Alisha McDarris

Brown stink bug about to land in a bug trap

3 DIY bug traps that actually work

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

three-framed-photos-on-wall

The scientifically best way to create a photo gallery wall

By Maridel Reyes

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

The Milky Way at night over mountains.

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

By Alisha McDarris

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

Frustrated couple in bed

How to share a bed with a restless sleeper

By Jennifer Billock

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

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

A man running shirtless on the side of a road in hot weather.

Know the difference between heat stroke and heat exhaustion. One can kill you quickly.

By Alisha McDarris

A snake plant sitting in an open cardboard box, ready for shipping.

How to ship your beloved houseplants across the country without killing them

By Ellen Airhart

person-holding-mask

How you and your family can cope with post-COVID anxiety

By Jean Levasseur

scientist injecting turkey

Thirteen science-backed ways to improve your Thanksgiving

By Sophie Bushwick

Hands holding slime with crumbs over a keyboard

This DIY slime can clean the grossest parts of your home and car

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A person grimacing and holding their left shoulder with their right hand.

Perfect posture doesn’t exist—but you can still improve yours

By Eleanor Cummins

person's hand with silver rings

Go full silver alchemist and clean your jewelry with science

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

One side of a reddish-brown brick building, with 15 windows arranged in a grid on the façade, each containing a separate window air conditioning unit.

How to prevent your window AC unit from falling out, and other cool tips

By Lauren Leffer

How to choose the perfect workout routine

How to choose the perfect workout routine

By Harry Guinness