Today's Tidbit: Tunisian Ants Don't Need a GPS to Return Home
There are ants in Tunisia that are roughly a few millimeters long. They leave their nests and find food sources by smelling them.
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Today's Tidbit: If You Like It Hot and Dry Outside, Eat Meat
It takes roughly 500 gallons of water to produce a quarter pound hamburger, and in the process, approximately six pounds of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere.
News: Chinese Farmer Builds Psycho-Copter From Scratch
There's been a lot of craziness from the far East lately on WonderHowTo... A Chinese farmer builds an army of robots, a Thai baker makes horror movie-esque bodies out of bread, a Chinese James Bond enthusiast hacks together his own submarine, and don't forget the Japanese cooking show narrated by a poodle named Francis...
News: 2011 TED Prize Winner Invites You to Participate in Global Art Project
A Parisian street artist anonymously known as JR—his pervasive works feature massive photographs of poor urban residents plastered across the cityscape—was awarded the 2011 TED prize some months ago.
News: Materials List For Silicone Mold From Household Items
How To Tutorial Supplies Needed:
News: Graffiti Bot Tags With Paintball Bullets
Very cool project by Benjamin Gaulon. Gaulon has created a graffiti writing paintball robot, entitled PrintBall. He uses technology from (previously posted) EyeWriter to tag with his eyes, plastering a wall with paintballs.
How To: Make Indian-style black-eyed pea dip with baked pita chips
If guacamole and salsa are starting to wear you out, it's time to bring on the peas. Cowpeas, that is, but we all know them as black-eyed peas. Chef Madhu Gadia gives her Indian recipe for this delicious black-eyed pea dip, perfect for potlucks or parties. Preparation is as simple as simmering canned black-eyed peas with aromatic Indian spices for 10 minutes. Easy, healthy and delicious. Plus, the pita chips are easy to bake!
How To: Mix a poblano, garlic, and sun-dried tomato Blood Mary
Blood Mary's seem like a simple alcoholic drink, but the more complicated they get, the more you'll love them. That's why this Blood Mary drink is one to remember, because it isn't just vodka you're adding… it's poblano, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic infused vodka. Mmm!
How To: Use and work with surface shaders in Houdini 10
An introduction to building a surface shader in VOPs that combines an image texture with procedural shading. This is a rather longer set of videos than normal as it is a complete walk through of creating a shader. The videos are in total are roughly an hour long. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. ...
How To: Watch the Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight (Dec. 20-21, 2010)
Umbra, penumbra. Not exactly abracadabra, but if you've taken an astronomy class, you know exactly what the umbra and penumbra are. And any Earthling would agree that the umbra is the best place to be during a solar or lunar eclipse.
How To: Perform a great rope escape magic trick
Grab a friend and get ready to perform some magic! The Great Rope Escape is sure to amaze your audience! You will need a rope (two pieces, each roughly 3 feet long). Sometimes we use materials that require adult supervision... like scissors so make sure you have friends and family around whenever you do magic tricks.
How To: Insulate an unfinished attic
Your attic is the most critical area of your house to be adequately insulated in order to keep you toasty warm in winter and cool as a cucumber in the summer. Since heat rises, a poorly insulated attic allows valuable heat from the living space of your house to escape during the winter. During the summer, heat trapped in your attic can reduce your ability to keep your house cool. In colder, Northern climates, an R-value of 49 is recommended for adequate attic insulation. In warmer climates, a...
How To: Create Your Own Cast and Oogoo to Give Your DIY Gadgets the Shape You Want
I think it's fair to say that every maker yearns for a 3D printer. You can replace circuit board connectors, fix your glasses, create ski grips, and make whole machines out of printed plastic parts—even a 3D printer. But without a 3D printer on hand, you can always resort to Sugru.
How To: Make Bacon-Infused Bourbon
If bourbon is a man's drink, what better flavor to infuse it with than bacon? The combination tastes just as delicious as it sounds—a smokey, salty aftertaste lingering after each sip of deep, rich bourbon.
News: Freakish Fanatical Facts on FarmVille
Get a little perspective on FarmVille hysteria, via FarmVille World, written by tenebrism: Did you know it only took five weeks to make FarmVille? That it currently has over 80,000,000 users? That FarmVille farmers outnumber real farmers in the United States by a ration of 80 to 1?
News: Shocking FarmVille Facts!
Did you know it only took five weeks to make FarmVille? That it currently has over 80,000,000 users? That FarmVille farmers outnumber real farmers in the United States by a ration of 80 to 1?
How To: Discover Your New Zodiac Astrological Sign (Thanks, Ophiuchus)
Those of you who are proud to be Libras, well, you may no longer be Libras. You could be Virgos. At least, according to astronomer Parke Kunkle.
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: DIAPSID
DIAPSID 61 points (11 points without the bingo) Definition: a reptile with two pairs of temporal openings in the skull [n]
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: REREMICE
REREMICE 62 points (12 points without the bingo) Definition: bats (flying mammals) [n/pl.]
SUBMIT NOW: A Collection of Amazing Videos to Inspire This Week's Flipbook Challenge
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
News: Polish Artist Recycles 300 Dead Computers into Giant Installation
Electronic waste (or e-waste) is becoming a bigger and bigger problem thanks to the rapid growth of technology. In 2009, the United States produced 3.19 million tons of e-waste in the form of cell phones and computers. It's estimated that 2.59 million tons went into landfills and incinerators with only 600,000 tons actually being recycled or exported. Recycling programs just aren't cutting it, so what's the next best thing? Art.
News: 3 Ways You Can Protest Ai Weiwei's Detainment by the Chinese Goverment
The Free Art and Technology Lab (F.A.T.) has provided three different energetic and passionate methods for voicing support for Ai Weiwei, the famous Chinese artist and activist who has been detained without known reason by the Chinese government since March 31st.
News: Russian Pin Ups Raise Political Awareness
Somewhere in the faraway land of Russia, the female form is used for more than one of the most popular deadly sins. The women pictured below made a pin up calendar to... ahem, arouse... awareness of Russia's social and economic issues by posing in politically-themed cosplay.
HowTo: Cheat Your Way Through College
A man going by the pseudonym of Ed Dante has written an illuminating account on his life as a career cheater. His clients include ESL students, hopeless dummies, and spoiled, lazy rich kids:
HowTo: Measure the Distance from the Earth to the Moon
Measuring the distance from the Earth to the moon doesn't require NASA equipment. The ancient Greeks did it, which means 2,000 years later, you can do it, too.
News: Look! A Diamond the Size of the Moon!
Lucy, whose real name is BPM 37093, is a diamond roughly the size of our moon. At around 4000 kilometers in diameter (2,485 miles), Lucy is estimated to be around 10 billion trillion trillion carats. A billion trillion trillion? x 10? It's easier to imagine dividing by zero than to put this ridiculous number into perspective.
News: Artificial Butterfly Could Unveil the Mysteries of Flight
Researchers Hiroto Tanaka and Isao Shimoyama (of Harvard University and University of Tokyo) have constructed a tiny replica of the swallowtail butterfly. The crudely made model uses just balsa wood, rubber bands, and a steel wire crank. The goal is to better understand the biomechanics of butterfly flight. Via Wired,
How To: The Best Way to Type on Your Touchscreen Chromebook
Touch typing on a Chromebook is difficult. With displays well over seven inches, it's barely possible to type in portrait mode, and landscape mode is a joke. But you don't have to resort to a physical keyboard, because there's a better way that works regardless of the screen size.
Today's Tidbit: Why Women Choose Men for Material Wealth
A vast number of studies ranging across time, continents, cultures, political systems, and religions show that when evaluating potential mates, women place significantly greater emphasis than men on material wealth, and that men tend to both display and exaggerate their financial status and prospects when around women.
How To: sneeze without snotting others
This is a fascinating exploration by a New Hampshire public health group. Their only known function is to teach people how to properly sneeze.
How To: Fix cracks in old drywall with wire mesh tape
When you have plaster walls that are a hundred years old you are going to have a lot cracks. Thankfully this Home& Garden how to video will give you a few tips on how to fix and fill in cracks in old drywall. Watch and learn to use wire mesh tape to help keep the drywall cracks from coming back. Fix cracks in old drywall with wire mesh tape.
How To: Consistently Locate Hidden Wall Studs in Your Home
Wall studs are both critical for maintaining the structure of your home and supporting items of weight and function on the interior walls (e.g. cabinets, shelves, plasma TVs, etc.). With wall studs playing such a critical role, consistently being able to find them is important. The problem with finding them is that drywall and wallboard isn't exactly see-through.
How To: Make an Asian grilled chicken salad in lettuce cups
The grill makes everything taste better, even salads. This grilled chicken salad, Asian style, is perfect for finger food. Yes, that's right— finger food. That's because this Asian chicken salad gets wrapped up in lettuce!
How To: Cook Chicken Pineapple Curry, Filipino Style
Ingredients 4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
DIY Lab Equipment: Make a Magnetically Controlled Cigar Box Stir Plate
If you've ever been inside of a real laboratory, you probably noticed how expensive the equipment is. You'd never be able to afford even just one of those ultra high-tech machines required to splice genes or split atoms. Even the lesser machines can be prohibitively costly, including a stir plate.
Coming Soon: World's Biggest Digital Camera and Its 3.2 Billion Pixel View of the Skies
You're probably already impressed at some of the photos amateur astrophotographers can capture with their 16-megapixel digital cameras. I know I am. That's why I'm beefing up my camera skills, so I can also take some amazing pictures of our skies above. But if you can take photos this good with a 16-megapixel camera, imagine what you could do with something a little bigger, say, 3.2 billion pixels! That's a whopping 200 times more pixels!
News: Greek theater at Epidaurus
Here is our entry for the Greek building contest. It is a model of the theater at Epidaurus. Here are our favorite images and descriptions out of those we used to build it: 1 2 3 4
News: RuneScape Still Kicking After 10 Years; Adds Giant Floating Custom Clan Citadels
It's only been ten years? Where has all of the time gone? When RuneScape came out in January of 2001, the world was a different place. There were no such thing as Xboxes, normal gamers didn't care about the number of cores on a processor, and the World Trade Center Towers dominated the Lower Manhattan skyline.
How To: Replicate Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken Secret Recipe
Kentucky Fried Chicken is one of those things that nearly everybody loves. But if your craving is strong and you want to make it yourself, think again – the Colonel’s not keen on parting with his top secret recipe. According to KFC’s official site, “one company blends a formulation that represents part of the recipe while another spice company blends the remainder. As a final safeguard, a computer processing system is used to standardize the blending of the products to ensure neither company ...
SUBMIT: Clever Idea for Magical Magnetic Fluid by August 1st. WIN: Your Very Own Bottle [Closed/Winner Announced]
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.