Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
How the space race made Velcro famous
In weightlessness, setting down a pen is more like releasing a balloon: it can drift away. Hook-and-loop strips gave astronauts a quick way to pin loose…
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The tiny chip that gives every card payment a new code
The payment reader powers the chip, which creates a fresh cryptographic code for that purchase. Because the code is tied to that transaction, a thief can’t…
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DVD players originally featured strict regional lockouts
DVD region codes worked like a geographic gate. The player read the code on a disc and blocked it if it came from another region, helping studios manage where…
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What fire hydrant cap colors tell firefighters
The cap color gives firefighters a quick clue about how much water a hydrant can supply: in a common U.S. system, red means lower flow and light blue means…
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Why Pringles are shaped the way they are
Pringles curve like little saddles, so they nest together like bowls and fit neatly into a tube. That same curved shape also helps them resist cracking as…
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NASA trains astronauts for spacewalks in giant pools
In a giant pool, water pushes upward against an astronaut’s weight, letting the suited body hover much as it would in space. But water also drags against…
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A LEGO brick from 1958 still fits today’s sets
The tubes inside a LEGO brick brace against the studs on the brick below, creating the snap-fit. The dimensions have to be just right: too loose and the…
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Why WD-40 is called WD-40
“WD” describes the job: the product was designed to displace water. The “40” marks the formula that finally worked after 39 earlier attempts. What sounds like…
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A melted candy bar helped create the microwave oven
A radar magnetron makes microwaves whose electric field flips direction rapidly. Water molecules respond by turning and jostling, passing energy along as…
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Why old screens needed screen savers
A CRT made pictures by firing electron beams at glowing materials on the screen. Leave one bright image in place, and the same spots keep glowing until they…
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The airport walkway has to park against your plane
A passenger boarding bridge extends, rises, and turns to meet an aircraft door at the right position. An operator must bring the moving structure close…
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Some of a washing machine's weight is there to fight its own spin
Heavy counterweights help stabilize the assembly as unevenly distributed laundry rotates. Nottingham Trent researchers even tested replacing concrete with a…
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When ATMs swallowed your card after wrong PINs
Some early ATMs pulled in a card after too many incorrect PIN attempts instead of ejecting it. That kept someone else from taking another shot at the card,…
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The remote control that worked without batteries
A button released a small hammer inside the remote, and the hammer struck a metal rod. The rod rang at an ultrasonic frequency the TV recognized as a command,…
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How musket tools became corkscrews
The corkscrew’s ancestor was a gun worm, a twisted tool soldiers used to catch and pull stuck musket balls or wadding from a barrel. Turning it in made it…
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Vaseline began with a nuisance on oil-drilling equipment
Robert Chesebrough investigated petroleum residue and developed a method of refining it into petroleum jelly. Removing unwanted material produced an ointment…
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A Patent Office fire erased thousands of invention records
The 1836 blaze destroyed nearly 10,000 early U.S. patents. Inventors were asked to help rebuild the archive, but fewer than 3,000 were recovered or…
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SOS never meant “Save Our Souls”
SOS was picked because its Morse-code rhythm is easy to send and recognize: dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot. It’s a short, unmistakable knock through…
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A peace campaigner helped shape Nobel's thinking
Bertha von Suttner corresponded with Alfred Nobel and argued forcefully for peace. He included a peace prize in his will; in 1905, she became its first female…
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Cellophane came from a tablecloth that wouldn't cooperate
Jacques Brandenberger tried to make cloth resist spills by coating it. The fabric became too stiff, but the coating could peel away as a thin film. He pursued…
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Listerine was once sold as floor cleaner
Listerine began as a surgical antiseptic, then its makers pitched it for all sorts of uses, from cleaning floors to treating dandruff. Later, the brand helped…
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The Slinky began as an experiment for ships
Richard James was testing springs to support sensitive shipboard instruments when one fell and appeared to walk down a series of surfaces. He and Betty James…
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How the CIA secretly bought Soviet titanium
High-speed flight heated the reconnaissance aircraft's structure enough to make titanium especially valuable. The CIA obtained Soviet-origin material through…
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How a spinning wheel inspired the circular saw
The Shaker story says Tabitha Babbitt noticed a circular blade could keep cutting as it turned, while a pit saw cuts only on its back-and-forth strokes. That…
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