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How To: Make Your Very Own Blinding Sunbeam with a Lithium AA Battery

Taking apart batteries is one of those things that every adult you've ever known has warned you against. Today, we break the taboo and dive into a lithium battery. Lithium has some pretty cool properties—it burns instantly in water and glows blindly bright under flame. And with just one AA battery, you can make a blinding light beam inspiring supernatural awe in all dictatorial adults who doubted you.

How To: 12 Crazy Cool Ways to Reuse Twist Ties

The next time you buy bread, tortillas and other produce or baked goods items that come with twist ties, don't throw them away. These handy pieces of plastic-covered wire come to good use when you need to build a garden trellis, organize your power cords, replace your zipper pull or securely tie your Christmas ornaments to your Christmas tree.

News: Become Your Own Souvenir

As a kid, my favorite thing to do at the Natural History museum was a midday stop, when my family strolled past an antiquated looking vending machine in the museum's musty basement. The Mold-A-Rama machine was oddly shaped, George Jetson-esque, and spewed out made-to-order, brightly colored plastic dinosaurs. There was such joy in watching the liquid wax pour into the mold, and then eject a warm, custom toy—well worth the dollar or two demanded. A version of this tradition was recently elevat...

How To Live Underwater: A Nevada Family's Bubble Fort

Would you rather live far up in the trees? Or deep underwater? A Nevada family of scuba divers have built the ultimate childhood getaway: the Needham family's "Bubble Room" is an underwater fort that sits at the bottom of a lake in the Sierras. The room is an air-filled pocket, made with vinyl and anchored down by an octagonal framework of metal pipe.

The Sweet Smell of Success: DIY Smoke Mix with Sugar and Potassium Nitrate

I finally got around to trying out another one of Will's mad science experiments and found out that this one was actually more satisfying (and less frustrating) than my slightly uncooperative jar jet. There's something very pleasing about making potassium nitrate at home in the kitchen and then watching the transformation from semitransparent liquid to spiky, frozen crystals. That was the best part for me, second only to igniting it with its sugar companion.

Force Lightning: How to Make a Shocking Cookie Jar Any Sith Lord Would Be Proud Of

There is nothing more annoying than a greedy roommate. It's absolutely infuriating to wake up and find the cookies your mother just made for you gone without a trace. Your favorite drink is empty and the homemade meal you worked so hard on the night before is nowhere to be found. This irked me so much that I made this shocking cookie jar. When a cookie burglar touches the side and the lid of the jar simultaneously, a small electric shock stops them in their tracks.

How To: Dropped Your Phone in Water? The Quick Response Guide to Saving Wet Electronics

It's no secret that water and electronics don't mix well, but somehow, people always manage to combine the two. I've had my fair share of water-damaged electronics, everything from cheap headphones to a desktop computer. My devices are getting dunked in water so much, it's like doughnuts in coffee. And I know I'm not the only one. That jam session with your favorite song will end really quick when your iTouch is chilling in the toilet bowl.

News: The Lost Art of Building With Your Hands

This is more of an op-ed piece that is only loosely tied to this world in the sense that what he built involved PVC. What I like about it is it sheds light on what I call the New Poverty. That is, the fact that the plastic and fully automatic world of developed nations impoverishes our creative spirit. It impoverishes the human spirit in a way that you find the New Wealth in places like drought starved Africa.

News: Amazing Solar-Powered Printer Uses Sunlight to Sculpt 3D Objects Out of Sand

No matter if you've used one or not, you've got to admit that 3D printers are pretty darn awesome, especially the self-replicating ones that extrude molten plastic and the shoebox-sized versions that use mesmerizing stereolithography to build tiny objects layer by layer. But what's even cooler? A solar-powered printer that uses the sun's energy to melt sand and make 3D objects out of glass.

News: Man Builds Camera as Big as His Dog

Gil Adam, a student of Industrial Design in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel, has created a 3:1 scale model of his favorite plastic camera, the Holga. While the camera is just a model (non-operational), it's pretty fun to see the oversized object next to Adam's face, and his dog.