Science & Industry
The Weirdest Cars Ever Made
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Article
Automobile designers and engineers have often pushed boundaries to make faster, sleeker, and more attractive cars. But sometimes that effort results in vehicles so eccentric that the world looks on in bemusement. These automotive oddities aren’t necessarily bad cars, but they certainly stand out for being well beyond the norm, whether it’s a vehicle so tiny it can fit through a doorway or a propeller-powered safety hazard. Here are seven of the most curious cars ever presented to an unsuspecting public. Credit: © Jim/stock.adobe.com Leyat Helica In 1913, French biplane designer Marcel Leyat had what ...Read More
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Science & IndustryFact12Christmas lights were invented as a publicity stunt.
Thomas Edison is known as one of history’s greatest inventors, but he was also a master of marketing. In 1879, Edison’s incandescent bulb was still in its infancy, but the…
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Science & IndustryArticle77What Did Neanderthals Sound Like?
Ever since the first Neanderthal fossils were identified in the mid-19th century, these ancient humans have generally been portrayed as brutish and inarticulate — interpretations steeped in the racial prejudices…
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Science & IndustryFact9Until the 1980s, most households rented rather than owned their phones.
Home phones really took off in the 1940s, but for the next several decades, almost nobody who used a telephone actually owned one. Instead, most customers rented the phones in…
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Science & IndustryFact8Nostalgia was once considered a disease (and it could be fatal).
Today, nostalgia means getting sentimental about childhood snacks or reruns of TV shows we only half remember. But in centuries past, it was treated as a deadly medical disorder —…
