Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Astronauts at Kennedy's Pad 39A have practiced escaping by cable basket.
Astronauts at Kennedy's Pad 39A have practiced escaping by cable basket. The emergency slidewire system carries people away from the launch structure toward a…
Discover more
Car insurance arrived before cars took over the road.
Car insurance arrived before cars took over the road. Travelers records issuing an automobile policy in 1897, when motor traffic was still a novelty. A new…
Discover more
Turn signal clicking sounds used to be the literal noise of a thermal relay mechanism heating up and snapping back into place.
Turn signal clicking sounds used to be the literal noise of a thermal relay mechanism heating up and snapping back into place. Electric current heated a strip…
Discover more
American military commanders deployed a fleet of specialized floating ice cream factories to the Pacific theater during World War Two to boost troop morale.
American military commanders deployed a fleet of specialized floating ice cream factories to the Pacific theater during World War Two to boost troop morale.…
Discover more
One golf-cart maker began with a shopping errand.
One golf-cart maker began with a shopping errand. The history of Marketeer traces Merle Williams's early electric vehicle to a machine he built for his wife…
Discover more
Autonomous self driving cars developed by major tech companies initially failed their road tests in Australia because the complex artificial intelligence systems simply could not…
Autonomous self driving cars developed by major tech companies initially failed their road tests in Australia because the complex artificial intelligence…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Helen Richey reached an airline cockpit before the profession let her stay.
Helen Richey reached an airline cockpit before the profession let her stay. Central Airlines hired her in 1934, making her a pioneer among women flying…
Discover more
A World War II submarine needed hours at the surface to recharge.
A World War II submarine needed hours at the surface to recharge. U-505 normally took about seven hours to charge its batteries, usually while running on the…
Discover more
One grounded ship closed a route carrying roughly 12% of world trade.
One grounded ship closed a route carrying roughly 12% of world trade. In March 2021, the Ever Given became wedged across the Suez Canal and blocked passage…
Discover more
French national railway regulations technically require anyone traveling with a live snail on a high-speed TGV train to purchase a separate ticket for their slimy companion.
French national railway regulations technically require anyone traveling with a live snail on a high-speed TGV train to purchase a separate ticket for their…
Discover more
British town planners constructed the profoundly terrifying Magic Roundabout in Swindon in 1972, a deeply chaotic piece of road infrastructure consisting of five smaller…
British town planners constructed the profoundly terrifying Magic Roundabout in Swindon in 1972, a deeply chaotic piece of road infrastructure consisting of…
Discover more
Sikorsky tested a helicopter layout that became familiar everywhere.
Sikorsky tested a helicopter layout that became familiar everywhere. His VS-300 first flew tethered in 1939 and freely in 1940. Its development helped…
Discover more
London's A 1 plate made being first visible on the car.
London's A 1 plate made being first visible on the car. The registration was issued to Earl Russell in 1903, at the beginning of London's numbering system. A…
Discover more
Albert Gunter, a completely ordinary London bus driver, successfully jumped his double-decker bus over a three-foot gap in Tower Bridge in 1952 when the bridge began opening while he was driving across it.
Albert Gunter, a completely ordinary London bus driver, successfully jumped his double-decker bus over a three-foot gap in Tower Bridge in 1952 when the…
Discover more
Classic cat's-eye road studs use passing cars to help clean them.
Classic cat's-eye road studs use passing cars to help clean them. Their reflectors return headlight beams toward drivers, marking the road without their own…
Discover more
Electronic tolls moved the transaction off the roadside booth.
Electronic tolls moved the transaction off the roadside booth. Readers identify a vehicle's transponder or cameras record its plate, allowing payment to be…
Discover more
Strangers form instant carpools to get across the Bay Bridge.
Strangers form instant carpools to get across the Bay Bridge. In the San Francisco Bay Area's casual-carpool system, drivers and passengers meet at designated…
Discover more
A painted line became one of road design’s simplest safety tools.
A painted line became one of road design’s simplest safety tools. Michigan road commissioner Edward Hines promoted the highway centerline in 1911, giving…
Discover more
An astronaut wears the life-support system outside the spacecraft.
An astronaut wears the life-support system outside the spacecraft. A spacewalking suit supplies pressure and oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, and helps manage…
Discover more
A bridge must move without letting the movement grow.
A bridge must move without letting the movement grow. Long suspension bridges flex under wind, traffic, and temperature changes. Engineers control that motion…
Discover more
Paris retired the little ticket you had to feed into a gate.
Paris retired the little ticket you had to feed into a gate. The region stopped selling cardboard transit tickets in November 2025 as it moved toward…
Discover more
Professional golfer Bubba Watson once collaborated with an engineering firm to develop a fully functional hovercraft golf cart, designed specifically to glide effortlessly over…
Professional golfer Bubba Watson once collaborated with an engineering firm to develop a fully functional hovercraft golf cart, designed specifically to glide…
Discover more
Australia's road trains turn one cab into a freight convoy.
Australia's road trains turn one cab into a freight convoy. On approved outback routes, a powerful tractor pulls several trailers together instead of sending…
Discover more
The 747's famous hump made room for a giant cargo door.
The 747's famous hump made room for a giant cargo door. Boeing put the cockpit above the main deck so a freighter's nose could hinge upward without moving the…
Discover more