Collaborate Disseminate
Those who haven’t experienced the destruction of a house fire should consider themselves lucky. The speed with which fire can erase a lifetime of work — or a life, for …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Rebuilding a Fire-Ravaged Telephone Exchange
As a nerdy kid in the 90s, I spent a fair bit of time watching the computer-themed cartoon Reboot. During the course of making a documentary about the show, [Jacob …read more Continue reading Digital Master Tapes Seek Deck
What’s the most thrilling part of rocketry? Well, the liftoff, naturally. But what about the sweet anticipation in those tense moments leading up to liftoff? In other words, the countdown. …read more Continue reading Liftoff! The Origin of the Countdown
It’s weird to think that an abacus would have still been used sixty years ago, or so posits the documentary series The Computer and the Mind of Man. This six …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: 1960s Doc Calls Computers The Universal Machine
The 1970s was a somewhat awkward phase for the computer industry — as hulking, room-sized mainframes became ever smaller and the concept of home and portable computers more capable than …read more Continue reading Bringing APL To The Masses: The History Of The IBM 5100
Researchers have examined the teeth of Swedish Vikings and found that aside from evidence of decay and loss, they engaged in surprisingly advanced dental practices not dissimilar from modern practices to relieve toothache. The study provides a rare ins… Continue reading Swedish Vikings were surprisingly good dentists, research finds
Many inventions happen not by design but through failure. They don’t happen through the failure directly, but because someone was paying attention and remembered the how and why of the …read more Continue reading Tech In Plain Sight: Superglue
Scientists have, for the first time, unearthed incredibly well-preserved stomach contents from within a fossilized skeleton of a young tyrannosaur, which has led to a curious discovery about the growing beast’s paleo palate.Continue ReadingCategory: Bi… Continue reading Amazing fossil find reveals young dinosaurs only wanted the drumsticks
Although spying is a time-honored tradition, the sheer scope of it reached a fever pitch during the Cold War, when everyone was spying on everyone, and conceivably for both sides …read more Continue reading Cold War Spying And The Questionable Use Of Smuggled Blueprints In Developing Supersonic Airliners
A fungus that attacked other organisms 407 million years ago has been unearthed among a collection of fossils, making it the oldest of its kind to have ever been found. The new plant pathogen has also been named Potteromyces asteroxylicola, in honor of… Continue reading World’s oldest disease-causing fungus found, named after Beatrix Potter