Test a Tube

In the case of rotting food, microbes are not our friends. Now, scientists have developed a new food wrap coated with tiny clay tubes packed with an antibacterial essential oil that can extend the shelf life of perishable food, so we can waste less and eat more. "While compan ...more

Here's how to build a sexy looking water-fuel generator that will convert your tap water into an extremely powerful, clean burning gas! Video: . An oxyhydrogen generator, like this one, uses electricity from your car battery to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gasses. Toge ...more

Chances are your hearing isn't the same as the person next to you. Personally, I have moderate hearing loss, so I tend to turn the volume nob towards the loud side. For others, it may be that one ear is slightly better or worse than the other, not only in perceiving volume, bu ...more

Foodborne infections often occur through the contamination of equipment, food-prep tools, and unsanitary surfaces. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds us that breast pump parts are part of the food-delivery chain — and they can bec ...more

Hi everyone. I'm relatively new here and I have learned a great deal from many of you already and would like to try and give a little something in return. I haven't seen this site mentioned before and I think it could be of some use. Security Tube is a website that hosts a la ...more

Update: After playing around with our new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus over the last couple weeks, it occurred to me to see if my DIY stylus would work with these new devices. I'm happy to report that it does, just as expected. Now, the level of functionality you'll get out of it is d ...more

Jem Stansfield from BBC's Bang Goes the Theory has "put scientific theory to the test" with his Vortex Cannon. Filmed at 1300-fps, you can see the cannon knock down three different houses made of straw, stick, and brick with an explosive vortex ring. The vortex ring that come ...more

When you're using vacuum power, moving water, or compressing air, it's more than likely being done with some sort of pump. I'll be needing a pump for some of my future projects, so in this tutorial, I'll be showing you how to make your own customizable PVC hand pump that will ...more

I've never had a black eye, but I was in a car accident that turned my entire ear dark purple a few years ago. Believe me; it was enough to get more than a few funny looks. Walking around with bruises is never fun, and it's even worse when they're on your face or neck. A blac ...more

What happens when you find your ball deflated and there's no pump or needle in sight? You could always cancel your plans of kicking around the soccer ball or starting that pickup football game in the park. Better yet, you could be terribly clever and find another way to get ai ...more

Last time, I showed how to start putting together an AC arc welder from scavenged microwave parts, focusing on the transformer modifications. Now, I'll show you how to finish up your DIY stick welding machine by fixing up the electrical system and performing the finishing touc ...more

With fragrance-filled sprays, scented candles, diffuser sticks, and other air-freshening products, the scent lasts just a few minutes and doesn't always mask what you were hoping to cover up. When it comes to the bathroom, scented toilet paper might sound like a terrible (and ...more

Over the past decade, touch screens have changed the way we interact with our electronic devices. Gone are the days of clicking and pecking at keyboards, with these gestures replaced by swipes, taps, and long-presses on most of our newer devices. From the early years spent swa ...more

A lot of my hacks use salvaged parts from an old microwave, with the microwave oven transformer (MOT) being the most useful component. In this "Quick Clip," I'll be using a MOT again (a dual MOT stack) to make deadly flame-looking electricity jumping around midair. This scien ...more

We've been dying to see how the new LG G6 stands up to wear and tear, with its near bezel-less display and glass construction, ever since the device was announced at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. It was put to the scratch, burn, and bend test, courtesy of one of ou ...more

Malaria is a massive worldwide health problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 212 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2015 and 429,000 of the infected people died. Once infected, the parasite multiplies in human red blood cells until i ...more

HIV infections persist despite treatment that successfully decreases viral blood levels to the point where doctors can't detect the virus. But that doesn't mean the person is cured. The virus hides in the body, not replicating, just waiting for a chance to jump out of the shad ...more

Significant strides have been in the race to find antibiotics to treat superbug infections — those caused by bacteria resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them. Now, an international team of scientists has discovered a new antibiotic produced by a microbe found in Italia ...more

Water makes up about 60% of your body weight. Whether you like it plain, flavored, bubbly, or in beverages or food, we all need water daily to avoid dehydration and stay healthy. For communities in need of clean drinking water, new research using bacteria may offer a simplifie ...more

In photography, stereographic projection is a geometric technique that projects a sphere onto a plane, which is mostly used in the mapping of spherical panoramas. The most popular type of stereographic panorama is the "tiny planet," where the center view of a panoramic image ...more

After years of making do with a cheap knife, I finally bought a really good 8" chef's knife—a Henckels, although I was also eyeing a Global santoku. It quietly but literally changed my life. I don't have amazing knife skills, but having a great piece of equipment in my hands ...more

The next time you suffer a cut or abrasion, think twice before you reach for the Neosporin. It's time, and mom, tested — you get a cut, you wash it carefully, then apply some triple-threat antimicrobial ointment. You may or may not slap on a band-aid. We won't cover it here, ...more

We here at Food Hacks are all about saving you, our wonderful readers, time and trouble in the kitchen. So when I saw that Barilla had come out with their Pronto line of "One Pan, No Boil, No Drain" pasta, I had to give it a try. While no-boil lasagna noodles have been around ...more

A picture is worth a thousand words, and depending on what you're taking a picture of, it could be worth a lot more. Our phone's camera can easily capture high quality photos, scan barcodes, and make us Instagram famous. You can compare prices of items and download application ...more

One of the many perks of being a Nexus user is that Google bakes in all sorts of goodies for use on its dessert-themed OS. From an easily unlocked bootloader, to a smooth and well-crafted "stock" UI experience, to being one of the first devices to receive updates straight from ...more

Some bacteria can already do it—generate electric current, that is—and those microbes are called "electrogenic." Now, thanks to the work of a research group from the University of California, Santa Barbara, we know how to easily turn non-electrogenic bacteria into electricity ...more

Did you know that there's a way to start a fire by squishing air? In this project, I'll show you how to build a tool that does exactly that—and I'll give you a sneak peak into the principals of how a diesel engine operates! Video: . In the early 1800s, before the invention of ...more

When you don't have a steady cellular signal or immediate Wi-Fi access but need to communicate with others around you, you can set up an off-the-grid voice communications network using a Raspberry Pi and an Android app. There are apps such as Bridgefy that will create a mesh ...more

With the nation facing a shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 patients and no apparent ramp-up in the production of new ones, engineers, medical resistents, and do-it-yourselfers are sharing plans for homemade versions. But before you go online to start ordering parts for any ...more

Even as health authorities describe the symptoms of Zika infection in the general population as mild, a new surveillance study finds serious side effects are more common, and serious, than previously thought. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that man ...more

There are all kinds of theories—many supported by science—about what causes Alzheimer's disease. Tangles of protein called ß-amyloid (pronounced beta amyloid) plaques are prominently on the list of possible causes or, at least, contributors. An emerging theory of the disease s ...more

Most of us have conducted an investigatory science project without even knowing it, or at least without knowing that's what it was called. Most science experiments performed, from elementary to high school students and all the way up to professional scientists, are investigato ...more

If you're too old to trick-or-treat (are you ever really?), throwing a Halloween party is the next best thing. You could always just serve beer and jungle juice like most other people will be doing, which will certainly get the job done, but where's the fun in that? Instead, i ...more

Fireworks are the best part about the Fourth of July and other celebrations, but they can easily cause accidental injuries. It's both safer and more fun to set them off remotely, so we'll hack some standard fireworks with nichrome wire, a relay, and an Arduino to ignite remote ...more

As researchers learn more and more about our intestinal bacteria—also called the gut microbiome—we're finding out that these microbes aren't just influencing our health and wellness, they're a useful tool for improving it, too. The bacteria in our intestinal tract must proper ...more

Bacteriotherapy sounds a lot more amenable of a term than "fecal transplant," yet they're both treatments that use bacteria itself to cure or treat infections. Fecal transplants, specifically, are an up-and-coming treatment option for a potentially deadly and difficult-to-trea ...more

I'm starting to wonder if the people at Boston Dynamics have ever watched a Terminator movie. Not just because the robotics company with the oxymoronic name develops machines that are able to move around environments with animal- and human-like agility, but because the people ...more

The drinking straw isn't just there to help you make annoying noises when you get to the bottom of your soda. That little tube of plastic is extremely versatile and can make your life a lot easier with a little know-how. Curious? Read on to find out more. Bendy or straight, th ...more

You've probably already been using iOS 16 on your iPhone for months, but there's a good chance you haven't found or explored everything the new software has to offer. Health-related features are usually the first to be ignored or go unnoticed, but they're essential to know abo ...more

3D printers allow hackers and makers alike to create something from nothing. They're an incredible technology that lets you build protective cases and covers for gear such as a wardriving phone and Raspberry Pi-Hole. 3D printers can even help you out in a bind when something b ...more

Sometimes I forget that I'm also a fiction writer, so I thought it might be a nice change of pace to share one of my stories with you. I wrote this piece awhile ago for an anthology that never came together and I'm tired of just sitting on it. It's one of the more odd stories ...more