Home Improvement

Home improvement is much easier when you are well-informed. Learn about home improvement, home safety and home maintenance.

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Electric screwdrivers combine batteries, motors, gears and a switch into one extremely compact package. How can such a lightweight, handheld tool drill through tough wood or even metal?

By Marshall Brain

Before the handy ballpoint, getting a few sentences onto paper was a pretty involved task. Find out how the ballpoint pen stores and manages its own ink supply to make writing a snap.

By Melissa Russell-Ausley

Each time you flush the toilet or wash something down the sink's drain, you create sewage (also known in polite society as wastewater). Find out where it goes and how it's treated before it flows into a river near you!

By Marshall Brain

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As the saying goes, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." Smoke detectors are amazing: They're pretty inexpensive, but they save thousands of lives each year. Learn all about nuclear and light-sensing smoke detectors.

By Marshall Brain