Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
How tractors helped create the Dust Bowl
Deep-plowing gasoline tractors tore up the prairie grasses that held soil in place, leaving it exposed and helping set the stage for the Dust Bowl.
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Spring loaded internal flaps force fluids to flow one way
When fluid pressure compresses the spring, the flap opens; when pressure drops or the flow reverses, the spring shuts it to block backflow.
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How your trackpad knows where you touched
A grid of electrical capacitance detects how your finger changes the field. The trackpad's controller uses that disruption to calculate your touch and turn…
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USB connections are almost universally backwards compatible
A newer USB drive can often work in an older computer, though data may transfer much more slowly.
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JSON lost comments because people started making them instructions
Douglas Crockford removed comments after seeing them used to carry parsing directives. That risked turning a supposedly interchangeable data format into…
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Caller ID spoofing manipulates network origin data
Caller ID information travels with a call, and poorly secured routing systems can let the caller supply a false number that appears on the recipient’s screen.
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Space station solar arrays lack atmospheric protection
Micrometeoroid impacts and solar radiation gradually wear the arrays down, since there’s no atmosphere to shield them.
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The console expansion that played Atari 2600 games
Coleco released an expansion module that let its console play Atari 2600 cartridges, giving buyers access to games from a rival system.
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Bolivia put a backward-running clock on its congress building
In 2014, the clock in La Paz had its numbers reversed and its hands set to move counterclockwise. Officials called it the 'clock of the south,' linking the…
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Clicking a mouse repeatedly will snap the microswitch
Repeated clicks wear down the switch’s tiny metal contact. After enough use, it can stop making clean contact, causing the mouse to register one click as two.
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Tap-to-pay works through a very small electromagnetic neighborhood
NFC exchanges data through closely coupled magnetic fields, which weaken rapidly with distance. Bringing the card or phone near the reader creates the link…
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Red barrels teach players a rule without a tutorial
After a few games, a red industrial barrel can read as 'shoot here for an explosion.' Place enemies beside it and the scenery becomes a tactical option. The…
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Why the keyboard designed to beat QWERTY never took over
Dvorak puts frequently used vowels and consonants on the home row, reducing finger travel. QWERTY stayed familiar, while switching layouts would mean…
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Enemy aggro mechanics completely ignore the largest threats
Aggro systems assign numerical threat values to attacks and healing, so a dragon may ignore the warrior stabbing it to chase a distant healer whose spell…
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Correction tape rolls a dry film of white plastic
The dispenser transfers a thin, opaque plastic film over the mistake—basically a tiny sticker machine for typos.
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Hackers breached a casino through its fish tank
An internet-connected thermometer in a lobby aquarium gave attackers a route into the casino's network, from which they stole 10 gigabytes of data.
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The strange recipe that turns ice into tough armor
Pykrete is a mixture of ice and sawdust: the wood fibers reinforce it like rebar, while the sawdust slows melting. The composite is unusually strong and…
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Anisotropic filtering fixes oblique angles
It samples textures more carefully at sharp viewing angles, keeping distant roads and floors from blurring into smears.
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Traceroute commands map intermediate internet hops
Traceroute sends packets with progressively larger hop limits; when a packet expires at a router, that router replies, revealing stops along the route and…
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When Unix gives up, it has a kernel panic
The kernel halts the system when it encounters an unrecoverable error because continuing could corrupt data.
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The physics trick behind a soda can tab
The can’s opening is scored, not fully cut, so it stays airtight until you lift the tab. The tab acts as a lever, pressing down on the scored metal to break…
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How barbed wire ended the open range
Barbed wire let farmers cheaply fence large stretches of the plains, ending the open range and reshaping the cowboy way of life.
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Stretched polyethylene terephthalate reflects infrared heat
These blankets are made from stretched plastic with a thin aluminum coating that reflects radiant infrared heat back toward the body.
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How a memory leak can freeze your computer
A memory leak happens when an application fails to release resources it has used. Over time, the unreleased memory can accumulate until the computer freezes.
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