Section
How things were discovered and invented, remarkable feats from years gone by, and ideas that are simply interesting.
How Hiram Bingham reached Machu Picchu in 1911, who was already there, the charcoal inscription left by Agustín Lizárraga in 1902, the 2022 study suggesting the Incas called the place Huayna Picchu, and how the objects taken to Yale went back to Cusco.
How farmers digging a well near Xi'an in 1974 found the Terracotta Army, how a local curator reassembled the first soldiers, the long argument over who discovered it, and how a famous claim about ancient anti-rust technology was overturned in 2019.
How Lucy was found at Hadar in Ethiopia in 1974, how she got her names, what her bones showed about walking upright, where she has travelled since, and where the museums' accounts of her disagree.
How David Warren of Australia's Aeronautical Research Laboratories came up with the cockpit recorder after the Comet crashes, why it was rejected at home, how a British visitor changed that, and where the accounts disagree.
How four friends found the Lascaux cave paintings in 1940, what the dog Robot did or did not do, why the cave was closed in 1963, and how you can see it today.
The voyage of the James Caird in 1916: who was aboard, how Frank Worsley navigated with only four sightings, the crossing of South Georgia, and how the 22 men left on Elephant Island survived until August. Plus where you can see the boat today.
How Percy Shaw turned a nightly drive, two tram lines and a cat on a fence into the cat's eye road stud, how it cleans itself, and why the Second World War made it.
How a self-taught engineer who sped up wartime radar production turned stray microwaves into a way to cook, why the famous melted-chocolate story is probably too neat, and how long it took for the oven to reach the kitchen.
