Latest stories
From burrs on clothing to hook-and-loop fasteners
Small hooks engage with loops and release again. The idea behind Velcro began with burrs caught on clothing and a dog after a walk.
Latest stories
The shield-biting warriors among the Lewis chessmen
The Lewis chessmen give individual faces to pieces with the same role. Their mouths, eyes and gestures reward a closer look.
The bendy straw began with a daughter’s milkshake
Watching his daughter struggle with a milkshake led Friedman to corrugate a paper straw. His first customer for the flexible version was a hospital.
Brompton, a bicycle built around a compact fold
Fold the rear wheel under, then bring in the front and handlebar sections. Brompton turns a bicycle into a compact package for the space it needs after the ride.
Talking books for blind readers needed players, too
A recorded book needs a way to be heard. America’s talking-book service provided for players as well as recordings, with a programme to produce 5,000 machines in 1935.
A century-old color photograph made from three black-and-white exposures
Prokudin-Gorsky photographed scenes through three filters. Misaligned colours can preserve traces of movement between exposures.
122 grams of oxygen made on Mars
MOXIE made 122 grams of oxygen from Martian carbon dioxide, testing a process relevant to both breathing and a return rocket.
The machine that made square-bottomed paper bags
Cut, fold and paste: Margaret Knight’s machine turned the work of making a square-bottomed paper bag into a sequence of mechanical movements.
The Falkirk Wheel, a rotating lift for boats
A boat stays afloat while its tank moves to another level. Balance is central to the Falkirk Wheel’s enormous rotation.