As if the sheer magnetism aspect of magnets wasn’t magical enough, weblog Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories points out 17 very cool tricks that put your magnets to great use.

For starters, a strong magnet can be the perfect tool to remove batteries from the grips of a stuborn spring.

We’ve all got things that take batteries. Some of them are well designed, and some of them are not. The worst offenders are electronic toys that take (say) half a dozen AA batteries, all of which must be inserted with the correct orientation— spring side first— and pried out, well, somehow. Rather than risk puncturing your batteries by prying them out with something pointy, just use a magnet to lift them out.

Likewise, the post suggests using a magnet to find and mark studs in your wall, make a simple compass, and—as you can see in the screenshot to the right—make a fridge pen. We love a good magnet trick (did you know they’re also great for cleaning the aquarium?), so if you’ve got a tip of your own for making good with magnets, let’s hear it in the comments. Otherwise, hit up the post to get a closer look at all 17 cool magnet tricks.