Category Kids Queries

The Antikythera Mechanism is the world’s first analogical computer designed in 100 B.C. The size of this is approx. 1 foot x 6 inches x 4 inches (31 cm x 15 cm x 10 cm). It is recovered from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900, this toaster-size device may have been the world’s analog – or mechanical – computer. Archaeologists believe the Greeks used it 2,000 years ago to calculate the courses of constellations and predict eclipses. Smaller than a modern PC, the Antikythera Mechanism contained at least 30 bronze gears and was remarkably efficient for its size. It even had an instruction manual inscribed on copper plates.

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Computers in the 1950s were the size of a house – literally. Today, your vastly more powerful smartphone fits in your jeans pocket. How could anything shrink in size while growing in power? The big breakthrough was the invention of the transistor, a tiny device that controls electronic signals. Like a nerve cell in the human brain, a transistor works with other transistors to store and process information in computing devices (and other gadgets). Transistors were installed on silicon microchips, which replaced much larger vacuum tubes in the 1950s. Many consider the transistor the greater invention of the 20th century. In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of the high-tech Intel Corporation, predicted that the number of transistors that could fit on a microchip would double every two years. Known as Moore’s Law, his prediction held true. In 1971, computer makers could fit only about 4,000 transistors on a chip; by 2011, they could cram in over 2.5 billion. Today, engineers are searching for the transistor’s successor.

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Although the drink mix Tang and sticky Velcro tape will forever be associated with rockets to the moon and space stations (both Tang and Velcro were shot into space in the early days of the space program), NASA didn’t invent either product. Still, plenty of other spin-offs-or technologies adapted for use here on Earth – came out of NASA-sponsored labs, including:

Memory foam: The spongy material in your mattress was originally designed for aircraft seat cushions.

Ear thermometers: NASA developed heat sensors that doctors now use to take your temperature without sticking a thermometer under your tongue.

Artificial limbs: NASA’s research into robotic astronauts has resulted in more realistic and functional arms and legs for people who have lost theirs in accidents or combat.

Invisible braces: Straightening your pearly whites no longer requires a mouthful of metal, thanks to a tough, transparent plastic originally created for missile systems.

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These uncanny flying objects – which have been wielded as hunting weapons for thousands of years – always return to their tosser (as long as they’re thrown correctly). The secret of the boomerang’s round-trip flight lies in its shape. A curved design combines two wings joined in the middle. Once the boomerang wielder launches the weapon using a strong overhand toss (similar to chucking a baseball), the boomerang back to its point of origin. The Guinness World Record for the longest boomerang throw is a staggering 1,402 feet (427 m)! It was a one-way trip; the boomerang got stuck in a tree. If you threw a boomerang in space it would return to your hand just like it would if you threw it on Earth – a fact verified by experiments on the International Space Station. It’s the passage of air over a boomerang’s wings, not the force of gravity, that’s crucial to a boomerang’s return flight.

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It sounds like something out of Tony Stark’s (Iron Man’s) lab: a machine that creates real-life objects just like a regular printer duplicates pictures and documents from your computer. But 3-D printers are real, and people use them to whip up everything from simple toys like chess pieces and rubber duckies to prototypes of complex inventions. Simply load the printer with a sort of plastic “ink” and select the object you wish to print from a “Thingiverse” of thousands of doodads (or design your own object. Then hit the Print button. Hot-ink guns on robotic arms move within the machine to “print” the object, layer by layer, until it’s complete. Eventually, 3-D printers will evolve to create more complex goodies, including snacks!

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Ralph Baer is famous for inventing video games in 1980s through today in United States. Its origins go back to 1966, when electrical engineer Ralph Baer invented what would become the Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game system. Despite its simple graphics and bleeping sound effects, the Odyssey established all the features of modern game systems: It hooked to your TV, used a handheld controller, and played a variety of games.

Ralph Baer donated his video game prototypes, objects, notes, and schematics to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2006. In 2014, the Museum collected his workshop to become the landmark object for its Innovation Wing.

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