Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
An alkaline battery's bounce changes as its chemistry changes
As the battery discharges, zinc turns into zinc oxide, changing the material inside. Researchers measured how that structural change affects rebound after a…
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Why Linux has a penguin mascot
Linus Torvalds chose a penguin after one nipped him at an Australian zoo; he wanted Tux to look chubby and content.
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Loading webpages requires downloading invisible scripts
A simple webpage can download tracking and analytics code alongside its text, sometimes leaving your browser to process far more than the paragraph you came…
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First internet radio broadcast happened in 1993
The live transmission featured the band Severe Tire Damage, showing that music could be broadcast around the world over the internet.
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A fencing foil hides a button in its tip
A spring-loaded plunger in the tip connects to a wire running down the blade. It takes about 500 grams of force to depress the plunger and register a hit.
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Markdown formatting must be translated before display
Markdown’s simple symbols are converted into HTML by rendering software so a browser can display the formatted page.
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The Sega 32X was a doomed console add-on
It had a library of only about a dozen games before Sega abandoned it when the next console generation arrived.
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Screaming snake case yells text using underscores
A variable like MAX_SPEED shows the style in action: every letter is uppercase, with underscores separating the words.
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Hole punches use a lever to slice through stacks of paper
The handle acts as a lever, driving steel cylinders through the paper to shear out circles that fall into a hidden tray.
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Service workers allow web applications to work offline
A background script intercepts web requests and serves cached files when the internet drops, letting the app keep working offline.
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Amazon once had a very different name
Before choosing Amazon, Bezos registered relentless.com; typing it today still redirects to Amazon.
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USB hubs split limited bandwidth among connected devices
Devices connected through a hub share the bandwidth of its single connection to the computer. If several transfer data at once, they have to share that…
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When emojis need an expert witness in court
As emojis appear in professional communications, lawyers increasingly hire linguistic experts to interpret them in court. A thumbs-up or eggplant emoji can…
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Cryptography uses salt to scramble encrypted information
A random salt is added before data is hashed, so identical inputs produce different hashes. The salt doesn’t encrypt the data; it makes matching hashes harder…
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Why strangers' lives look better on social media
Social platforms expose you to polished highlights from strangers around the world, making it easy to feel that everyone else is having a better time.
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Your camera can see infrared—so it has to be blinded
Digital camera sensors can detect infrared, so manufacturers add filters to block it from regular photos. You can test this by pointing a remote control at a…
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Samuel Morse knew the cost of news arriving too late
In 1825, while he was away working as a painter, letters brought news of his wife's illness and death. He returned after her burial. Years later, his…
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Why sharks bite undersea cables
Sharks have been blamed for biting undersea cables, possibly because they detect the magnetic fields around the lines.
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Xbox Series S black circle is merely a fan exhaust
The large black circle is an exhaust vent, not a speaker; it lets hot air escape from the console.
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Evaporating fluids rapidly transfer heat across sealed copper
A heat pipe moves heat without a pump: liquid inside a sealed copper tube boils at the hot end, travels as vapor, then condenses and releases heat at the cold…
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Why phone and calculator keypads are reversed
Bell Labs tested different button arrangements before settling on the familiar phone layout with 1–2–3 at the top. Calculators inherited a different tradition…
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Rechargeable alkaline batteries operate at a lower voltage
Many rechargeable cells provide about 1.2 volts, compared with 1.5 volts from standard disposable alkaline cells. Some devices read that lower voltage as a…
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Whiteboards rely on non-porous glass to reject ink stains
Their smooth, nonporous surfaces give ink few places to cling, so the pigment stays on top and wipes away. Glass, melamine, and porcelain can all provide this…
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Localhost IP address 127.0.0.1 always points to yourself
It lets a device send network traffic back to itself, so developers can test applications without connecting to another machine.
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