Technology — Page 3
Innovations and technology
188 facts
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 and made the technology available for free, without patents or royalties.
In 1993, CERN officially released the web software into the public domain, allowing the internet to grow explosively…
The first computer password was created in 1961 by MIT researcher Fernando Corbató.
Corbató developed passwords for the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) so multiple users could securely share a…
The first computer to sing was the IBM 7094 in 1961.
The IBM 7094, at Bell Labs, was programmed to sing 'Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)'. The feat inspired Arthur…
The first credit card was created in 1950.
The Diners Club, the first general-purpose credit card, was created in 1950 by Frank McNamara, who forgot his wallet…
Physicists created the world's smallest QR code, measuring just 50 by 50 nanometers.
Using a scanning tunneling microscope, researchers positioned silver atoms one by one to form a QR code that is more…
The first commercial mobile phone weighed about 1 kilogram and had about 30 minutes of battery.
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was launched in 1983. Its battery allowed about 30 minutes of talk time and took several…
The first email message used the @ symbol to separate the user from the machine.
In 1971, Ray Tomlinson chose the @ symbol because it was rarely used in names and could indicate the user's location…
The mantis shrimp delivers a punch so fast that the water boils and forms cavitation bubbles.
The mantis shrimp's punch reaches speeds similar to a .22 calibre bullet. When the appendage moves through the water…
The world's smallest QR code was created with silver atoms and can be read by a common phone.
Researchers at FZU used a scanning tunneling microscope to position silver atoms one by one, forming a QR code of 50…
CSIRAC, Australia's first computer, still works and could help with quantum computing.
CSIRAC is the fifth automatic digital computer ever built and the first in Australia. Built in the 1940s, it is still…
Researchers created electronic circuits made from mushrooms.
Scientists cultivated and dehydrated mushrooms to create circuits that switch between electrical states more than…
Stanford researchers invented the first self-powered mechanical circuits that learn.
The circuits use a mechanism called Adaptive Directed Springs (ADS), which work like mechanical neurons capable of…
Electronic circuits made from living mushrooms can detect heat and have self-healing capacity.
Researchers bioprinted networks of living fungal mycelium onto stretchable electronics to create a self-sustaining…
A smart bionic eye prototype combines sensing, memory and processing in a single system.
The invention from RMIT University uses a molybdenum disulfide chip measuring 2 centimetres by 2 centimetres that…
The first message sent over the internet was a complete Shakespeare quote.
The first message sent over ARPANET, the predecessor of the internet, was LO on 29 October 1969. The researchers…
The first electronic computer, ENIAC, weighed about 30 tonnes.
Built between 1943 and 1946, ENIAC occupied a room of 167 square metres and weighed approximately 30 tonnes. It used…
The world's first telephone with built-in microphone and earpiece was invented by a Portuguese man.
Cristiano Bramão, a Portuguese telegraph operator, developed in 1878 a desk telephone that integrated the microphone…
The Antikythera mechanism may have been just a very elaborate toy.
A 2025 study concluded that the gear configuration of the Antikythera mechanism does not work correctly…
Self-learning mechanical circuits have been invented without electronics.
Stanford researchers created self-powered mechanical circuits that learn and adapt to their environment. The system…
The first functional niobium-based battery has been created in Brazil.
Researchers at USP developed the first functional battery based on niobium, a metal abundant in Brazil. The battery…
Dyson has created a toothbrush with a camera that sees inside the mouth.
Dyson s CameraJet is an electric toothbrush with a small camera that observes the inside of the mouth during…
An exoskeleton that helps you walk on any terrain has been created.
The Hypershell Halo is an exoskeleton for outdoor activities, weighing 2.6 kilograms with a range of 20 kilometres…
Collisions of oxygen and neon at CERN have recreated the matter of the early Universe.
Collisions of oxygen-16 and neon-20 at CERN produced quark-gluon plasma, the primordial matter of the Universe. The…
IBM's first hard drive, in 1956, weighed about a tonne and stored 5 megabytes.
The IBM 305 RAMAC, from 1956, was the first computer with a hard drive. The drive weighed about a tonne and stored…