Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
A washing machine powered by a stationary bike
Ingenious tinkerers have successfully merged stationary cycles with household laundry machines, finally allowing citizens to make their mundane weekend chores…
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Ancient charioteers attacked their rivals' wheels
Ancient racers actively attempted to violently dismantle opponents' wheels in the middle of a race, rapidly turning a simple sporting event into a…
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Inline skates came before quad skates
Despite seeming like a nineties trend, they actually predated quad versions by a full century, but were so unbelievably hard to balance on that society…
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Heelys began with wheels pushed into a pair of shoes
Roger Adams literally sliced open a pair of expensive shoes and shoved heavy wheels inside the heels, solely because he wanted to glide through grocery aisles…
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Was Scotland's first pedal bike a patriotic hoax
A Scottish blacksmith long claimed to have created the first true pedal cycle, though modern historians largely suspect the entire story was just a massive,…
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Why Apollo's lunar landers were wrapped in gold foil
Landing on the moon basically required dressing the spaceship in excessive bling. Without an atmosphere to regulate extreme solar radiation, the fragile lunar…
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Some cities make cyclists pay to ride
Certain municipalities actively force riders to pay licensing fees for their non-motorized cycles, proving definitively that local bureaucrats will monetize…
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The world makes far more bicycles than cars
Despite car companies dominating every ad break known to man, humanity is quietly churning out over a hundred million bicycles a year. This easily eclipses…
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In The Chronicles of Narnia, a wardrobe leads to a snowy magical world
In literature, standard doors are too mundane, so portals to magical realms are hidden behind winter coats. By simply walking into a massive wooden cabinet,…
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Holding onto a thrown hammer cannot make you fly because momentum cannot pull you upward
If you cannot fly organically, just throw a ridiculously heavy hammer as hard as you can and refuse to let go. This mythical transit hack relies on the sheer…
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Drifting along a gentle artificial river
The lazy river is the pinnacle of apathetic transit. By using hidden jets to create a continuous, slow-moving current in a closed loop, parks allow guests to…
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Sliding down winding tubes of flowing water
Amusement parks figured out that people will gladly wait in line for an hour to experience ten seconds of uncontrolled watery terror. Relying entirely on a…
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Rolling inside a giant transparent bubble
Because normal paths are for peasants, someone decided we should navigate terrain like confused hamsters. Zorbing involves strapping yourself inside a…
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Catapulting off a giant inflatable blob
Transporting someone from a dock into a lake shouldn't require a physics degree, but blob jumping begs to differ. One person sits on the end of a partially…
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Sprinkling magical dust to float off the floor
According to beloved children's literature, all you need to defy gravity is happy thoughts and a heavy dusting of glowing fictional particles. Originally…
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Floating through the sky in an enchanted sphere
Because normal hot air balloons lack literary whimsy, one fictional boy crossed the Atlantic Ocean entirely inside an enlarged piece of supernatural fruit.…
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Sliding down stairs in a sleeping bag
Every child who has ever looked at a carpeted staircase has recognized it for what it truly is: an indoor slide waiting to happen. By inserting yourself into…
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Floating under a canopy towed by a cable
Parasailing allows you to experience the majesty of flight while remaining entirely tethered to a loud engine. A specially designed canopy catches the wind as…
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Being magically whisked away by ruby slippers
When you are stranded in a vibrant, terrifying fantasy land, simply clicking your sparkly heels together three times will instantly bend space and time. This…
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The magical trash that can teleport you
In the same wizarding universe, setting a magical trap on a rusty can or an old boot turns it into an instant teleportation device. The moment a person…
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Gliding forward three feet for every foot dropped
The physics of a wingsuit relies on a meticulously calculated glide ratio. Because humans are inherently terrible at flying, the suit acts as an inflatable…
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Riding ocean waves on a small floating block
Invented in the 1970s by a guy who just wanted to surf without standing up, bodyboarding involves lying on a small, rectangular block of foam and letting the…
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Floating up a supernatural factory transparent tube
In a famous fictional chocolate factory, one greedy child discovers that immense glass suction tubes are primarily meant for transporting goods, not humans.…
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Shrinking to subatomic sizes to bypass obstacles
If a door is locked, conventional logic dictates finding a key. Sci-fi logic dictates shrinking your entire body down to the size of a microbe and simply…
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