The Invention of Money – A Short History
From prostitution to dealing on the stock exchange, trading has been around for tens of thousands of years. But when did mankind move from a barter system to exchanging goods for bits of metal and paper ?
Rubber
Rubber is a unique a wonderous material. However processing the raw latex into a durable and useful form proved very difficult. Charles Goodyear was a man obsessed with it. Here’s an account of his struggle.
The Origins of the Modern Moggie
It may surprise you to know that the origin of the modern moggie, one of the mysteries of veterinary science, has only very recently been solved by researchers.
Who invented the comma ?
Such a small thing, as symbols go, but it can make all the difference in meaning and understanding when used in a sentence. But wher did it come from ?
Emoticons … a history
Emoticons … those little smiley characters crop up everywher , texts emails , twitters. They instantly convey a whole gammat of meaning. Today you even get some representing Elvis, a rose and Homer Simpson. But who invented them and when ?
Keeping it together – The Screw Thread
The screw thread … a simple device that cranked technology to new levels. Without the humble screw thread our world would literally fall apart.
Origin of the Months and Days of the Year
We use them everyday to order our lives to record, analyse and make sense of things. We’re talking about the days and months of the year. What are their origins ? You may be surprised in that they all have origins deep within our pagan past.
Santa’s Reindeer
It may surprise you to know that Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is not all that he seems. Here we discuss the origins of the most mercurial of all Santa’s reindeer.
Fireworks and Gunpowder
We all think we know how fireworks and gunpowder came about … but here we look at really how they came about.
The Zipper
The zipper is an indispensable little piece of technology that we’d be lost without. It was an out-of-the-blue invention. Nothing like it had ever existed before.
Locks & Keys – How did they come about?
Locks and keys are an everyday part of our lives … how could we secure anything without them ? Here’s some background on their development.
Glass
A world without glass is unthinkable . Entire buildings today can be made up pretty much entirely of glass. But when did man first discover it, use it and eventually learn how to manufacture it?
Origins of the Tea bag
Tea is our national drink and without the tea bag preparing it would be a whole lot fiddlier. But how did this little invention come about ?
Zero – the rise of nothingness
Zero is now so central to the way we think, and to our key technologies, that it’s hard to imagine a time before we had it.
The Origin of Jeans
Jeans are a ubiquitous item of clothing these days with a multitude of styles and designs. But just who invented them and how did they become so popular ?
