A remote colony of birds kept flying away before anyone could count them, so a team of ecologists built a do-it-yourself aerial drone to spy on them from above.

The team made their drone out of a 4.6-foot-wide radio-controlled airplane, two cameras and a GPS tracking unit, all for less than $2,000.

It was the first time scientists have used an unmanned aerial vehicle to inventory a remote bird population, said ecologist and project leader Francesc Sardà-Palomera of Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya Solsona in Catalonia, Spain.

“If you want to use a real plane, you need to rent a p...

The Motorola Droid Razr's super slender parts get exposed. Image: iFixit

Today, iFixit grabbed its signature spudgels and screwdrivers to pry apart the ultra-thin Motorola Droid Razr. Inside, the phone features some seriously slender components. And they’d have to be — the Razr is the world’s skinniest smartphone.

Unfortunately for home repair gurus, that thinness makes the phone difficult to take apart and repair. In fact, iFixit gave the Droid Razr a 4 out of 10 for repairability.

The phone measures in at a scant 0.28 inches thick for the majority of its profile. And at its thickest point — t...