Technology
Bubble wrap was invented as wallpaper
In 1957 two engineers sealed two shower curtains together hoping for textured wall covering. It flopped — then IBM used it to ship computers, and it never stopped.
More in Technology
The internet travels as pulses of light
Fibre optic cables carry data as laser light bouncing inside glass thinner than a hair, moving at roughly two-thirds the speed of light in vacuum.
Almost all international data crosses the seabed
Satellites carry a tiny share — around 99% of intercontinental internet traffic runs through submarine cables, some no thicker than a garden hose.
GPS would fail without Einstein
Satellite clocks tick faster in weaker gravity and slower from speed. Without relativity corrections of about 38 microseconds a day, positions would drift kilometres off.
Moore's law was an observation, not a law
In 1965 Gordon Moore noticed transistor counts doubling roughly every year, later revised to two. That guess became the industry's roadmap for half a century.
Your battery works by shuttling lithium ions
Charging pushes ions into the graphite anode, using them pushes them back. Each cycle degrades the structure slightly — which is why batteries age.
Touchscreens sense your body's electricity
Capacitive screens hold a tiny electrical field; your conductive finger distorts it, and the phone calculates where. That is why gloves usually do not work.