Almost all of the world’s internet traffic does not travel by satellite but through fibre-optic cables lying on the ocean floor, a hidden web of wires crossing the deepest parts of the sea to connect the continents.
Almost all of the world’s internet traffic does not travel by satellite but through fibre-optic cables lying on the ocean floor, a hidden web of wires crossing the deepest parts of the sea to connect the continents. The excellent mass of documents…
The Greenland shark grows about one centimetre a year, does not reach sexual maturity until around age 150, and a specimen carbon-dated by Danish researchers in 2016 was estimated to be at least 272 years old, meaning it was already swimming the North Atlantic when Mozart was composing symphonies.
The Greenland shark grows about one centimetre a year, does not reach sexual maturity until around age 150, and a specimen carbon-dated by Danish researchers in 2016 was estimated to be at least 272 years old, meaning it was already swimming the North…
A species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii can revert its adult cells back to a juvenile polyp stage when injured or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle, and biologists have so far failed to identify any natural limit to how many times it can do this.
A species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii can revert its adult cells back to a juvenile polyp stage when injured or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle, and biologists have so far failed to identify any natural limit to how many times…
In 1997, a team of engineers hid an entire flight simulator inside the code of Microsoft Excel as an unlisted “Easter egg” — and to this day, it remains one of the most sophisticated pieces of hidden software ever secretly shipped to millions of corporate computers
In 1997, a team of engineers hid an entire flight simulator inside the code of Microsoft Excel as an unlisted “Easter egg” — and to this day, it remains one of the most sophisticated pieces of hidden software ever secretly shipped to millions…
When Doug Wheelock came home after 163 days in space, he said he had craved the aroma of leaves, grass, flowers, and trees, the rush of Earthiness that reaches astronauts only when the hatch opens back onto the living planet
When Doug Wheelock came home after 163 days in space, he said he had craved the aroma of leaves, grass, flowers, and trees, the rush of Earthiness that reaches astronauts only when the hatch opens back onto the living planet When Doug Wheelock came…
When Sony shipped the first Walkman in 1979, chairman Akio Morita insisted on a second headphone jack and a “hotline” talk button, convinced it would be rude for one person to listen to music alone — and within a few years buyers had ignored the sociable features so completely that Sony quietly dropped them
When Sony shipped the first Walkman in 1979, chairman Akio Morita insisted on a second headphone jack and a “hotline” talk button, convinced it would be rude for one person to listen to music alone — and within a few years buyers had ignored…
When Harvard astronomer Cecilia Payne submitted her 1925 doctoral thesis arguing that the Sun was made almost entirely of hydrogen, the field’s senior figure Henry Norris Russell talked her into adding a line calling the result ‘almost certainly not real,’ and then published the same conclusion himself four years later to widespread acclaim.
When Harvard astronomer Cecilia Payne submitted her 1925 doctoral thesis arguing that the Sun was made almost entirely of hydrogen, the field’s senior figure Henry Norris Russell talked her into adding a line calling the result ‘almost…
Masahiro Hara and Denso engineers built the QR code in 1994 to help Toyota suppliers scan car parts from any angle, then kept the patent open until phone cameras and a 2020 pandemic turned the factory square into a daily ritual on restaurant tables
Masahiro Hara and Denso engineers built the QR code in 1994 to help Toyota suppliers scan car parts from any angle, then kept the patent open until phone cameras and a 2020 pandemic turned the factory square into a daily ritual on restaurant tables…
French scientist Michel Siffre spent two months alone in a cave with no clock, no calendar, and no sunlight — and when his team finally told him the experiment was over, he thought he still had nearly a month left underground
French scientist Michel Siffre spent two months alone in a cave with no clock, no calendar, and no sunlight — and when his team finally told him the experiment was over, he thought he still had nearly a month left underground Once Michel Siffre’s advice…
The Big Ear telescope was scanning at 1420.4056 megahertz on the night of 15 August 1977, the exact frequency at which hydrogen atoms vibrate across the universe, because Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison had argued years earlier that any species trying to be found would broadcast on that channel — and then, for 72 seconds, something did.
The Big Ear telescope was scanning at 1420.4056 megahertz on the night of 15 August 1977, the exact frequency at which hydrogen atoms vibrate across the universe, because Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison had argued years earlier that any species…