Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Panama's canal locomotives keep ships from scraping the walls.
Panama's canal locomotives keep ships from scraping the walls. In the original locks, electric 'mules' run along the sides with cables attached to the vessel.…
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La Paz turned the daily commute into a cable-car ride.
La Paz turned the daily commute into a cable-car ride. Mi Teleférico connects neighborhoods in La Paz and El Alto by traveling above the steep terrain and…
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Alaska's Denali rangers still have a working dog team.
Alaska's Denali rangers still have a working dog team. The park established its sled-dog kennel in 1922, using teams for patrols, supplies and protecting…
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In California, riding a horse does not exempt you from road rules.
In California, riding a horse does not exempt you from road rules. State law gives people riding animals on highways many of the same duties as vehicle…
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Dubai's police supercars are also tourist attractions.
Dubai's police supercars are also tourist attractions. The luxury fleet appears in prominent visitor areas and at public events, making the police vehicles…
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A Typhoon submarine had room for a pool and sauna.
A Typhoon submarine had room for a pool and sauna. Its enormous outer shape enclosed two main pressure hulls side by side, plus smaller pressure compartments.…
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Midtown traffic averaged just 4.8 mph in 2024.
Midtown traffic averaged just 4.8 mph in 2024. A report using New York City figures put Midtown's fiscal-year average at 4.8 miles per hour, down from 5.7 a…
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A driverless metro does more than remove the person at the controls.
A driverless metro does more than remove the person at the controls. Automated systems coordinate speed, braking, train separation, and station stops, while…
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New Amsterdam was regulating reckless wagon drivers in 1652.
New Amsterdam was regulating reckless wagon drivers in 1652. An ordinance addressed dangerous driving of carts, wagons, and sleighs in the settlement that…
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Before the widespread invention of the internal combustion engine oil refineries considered gasoline to be a completely useless and highly dangerous byproduct of producing kerosene for lamps.
Before the widespread invention of the internal combustion engine oil refineries considered gasoline to be a completely useless and highly dangerous byproduct…
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Southwest settled a slogan dispute with an arm-wrestling spectacle in 1992.
Southwest settled a slogan dispute with an arm-wrestling spectacle in 1992. Herb Kelleher faced Stevens Aviation's Kurt Herwald over their competing uses of…
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Icebreakers are specialized ships with massively reinforced hulls that do not simply push through frozen ocean sheets, but actually ride up onto the ice and crush it using their own immense weight.
Icebreakers are specialized ships with massively reinforced hulls that do not simply push through frozen ocean sheets, but actually ride up onto the ice and…
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Zip lines were not invented for exhilarating eco-tourism through rainforest canopies, but were originally utilized as a highly practical method for transporting cargo across treacherous mountainous terrain.
Zip lines were not invented for exhilarating eco-tourism through rainforest canopies, but were originally utilized as a highly practical method for…
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The first licensed woman pilot learned from an aircraft builder.
The first licensed woman pilot learned from an aircraft builder. Charles Voisin encouraged Raymonde de Laroche to fly and taught her before she received her…
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Illinois made wartime license plates out of fiberboard.
Illinois made wartime license plates out of fiberboard. Steel rationing pushed the state to issue fiberboard plates from 1943 through 1948. Early versions…
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Zeppelin gas cells used a membrane taken from cattle intestines.
Zeppelin gas cells used a membrane taken from cattle intestines. Known as goldbeater's skin, the thin material combined low weight with resistance to hydrogen…
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Honking your car horn in massive gridlock traffic does absolutely nothing to make the cars move faster but it certainly raises your blood pressure.
Honking your car horn in massive gridlock traffic does absolutely nothing to make the cars move faster but it certainly raises your blood pressure. A horn…
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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience sixteen sunrises and sunsets every single day because their vehicle is traveling at a blistering seventeen thousand five hundred miles per hour.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience sixteen sunrises and sunsets every single day because their vehicle is traveling at a blistering…
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Airliners climb because thinner air changes the fuel bill.
Airliners climb because thinner air changes the fuel bill. At cruising height, reduced air resistance lets a jet travel efficiently, but the wings and engines…
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Gas gauges in almost every modern car have a tiny, easily ignored triangular arrow right next to the fuel pump icon that points directly to the side of the car where the gas tank cap is located.
Gas gauges in almost every modern car have a tiny, easily ignored triangular arrow right next to the fuel pump icon that points directly to the side of the…
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Tony Jannus piloted the world's very first scheduled commercial airline flight in 1914, transporting a single paying passenger across Tampa Bay in a trip that lasted a mere twenty-three minutes.
Tony Jannus piloted the world's very first scheduled commercial airline flight in 1914, transporting a single paying passenger across Tampa Bay in a trip that…
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Channel Tunnel spoil became a new piece of England's coastline.
Channel Tunnel spoil became a new piece of England's coastline. About 4.9 million cubic meters of chalk marl helped create Samphire Hoe beneath Shakespeare…
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Astronauts returning to earth from the international space station do not gently glide down to a runway but rather plummet through the atmosphere inside a capsule that…
Astronauts returning to earth from the international space station do not gently glide down to a runway but rather plummet through the atmosphere inside a…
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Climbing to an absolutely dizzying elevation of over sixteen thousand feet, the Qinghai-Tibet railway comfortably holds the record as the highest functional train route on earth.
Climbing to an absolutely dizzying elevation of over sixteen thousand feet, the Qinghai-Tibet railway comfortably holds the record as the highest functional…
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