In the world of innovation, certain creations have left a mark, not always for the better. From swimming super suits promising unprecedented speed to electrified water attempting to cure hangovers, each of these inventions faced its share of fame and eventual blacklisting. Join us as we explore the rise and fall of these ten innovations that were blacklisted.

Related: Ten Absurd Inventions That Are More Useful Than You Might Think

10 Swimming Super Suits

Swimming super suits burst onto the scene in the late 2000s, promising to revolutionize the world of competitive swimming. These high-tech suits, made with cutting-edge materials, supposedly enhance buoyancy, reduce drag, and propel swimmers to record-breaking speeds.

The suits sparked controversy due to their impact on performance, leading to increased world records and an uneven playing field. The pinnacle of this debate came during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when athletes clad in these advanced suits shattered records left and right—25, to be exact, for this single Olympics.

Despite the initial excitement, swimming’s governing bodies stepped in to address the issue. FINA (now World Aquatics), the international federation for aquatic sports, imposed strict regulations on swimsuit technology in 2010, effectively blacklisting the use of these super suits in professional competitions.

The move aimed to restore fairness and ensure that success in the pool was determined by skill and athleticism rather than the latest swimwear technology. While the suits left a lasting mark on the sport’s history, their blacklisting reminds us of the delicate balance between innovation and maintaining the integrity of competitive sports.

9 Stickum, aka Sticky Gloves

Coated with a magical substance known as Stickum, these football gloves gave players an otherworldly grip on the ball. Stickum turned catches that were once deemed impossible into routine plays. The NFL, however, wasn’t too thrilled about this innovation.

Introduced in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Stickum-coated gloves became the secret weapon of many receivers. It allowed them to make jaw-dropping catches that left fans in awe. The gloves were so effective that they sparked debates about fairness and sportsmanship.

In 1981, the NFL ended the Stickum era by officially banning its use on the field. The league took a stand, emphasizing fair play and maintaining a level playing field for all teams. This decision marked the end of Stickum’s reign, but its legacy lingered as a cautionary tale in the world of sports.

While Stickum’s sticky gloves may be consigned to the history books, their impact on the game is undeniable. The ban on Stickum teaches us that even innovations that seem like a game changer can be blacklisted if they tilt the scales too far in one direction.

8 RealNetworks RealDVD

Imagine a DVD player that not only played your favorite movies but also allowed you to make digital copies for personal use. That was the promise of RealDVD, a product by RealNetworks. Launched in 2008, it aimed to revolutionize how we interacted with our DVD collections.

However, the entertainment industry wasn’t ready to embrace this idea. RealDVD faced a legal backlash from major movie studios like Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. They argued that RealDVD violated copyright laws by enabling users to copy DVDs. The battle went to court, and unfortunately for RealNetworks, the judge ruled against them.

In 2009, the court issued an injunction, effectively putting the brakes on RealDVD’s distribution. The legal drama surrounding RealDVD highlighted the challenges of navigating copyright issues in the digital media landscape. Despite its potential to change how we manage our movie collections, RealDVD warned of the fine line between innovation and legal boundaries in technology and entertainment.

7 Jeff Gordon’s “T-Rex” Racecar

Jeff Gordon’s “T-Rex” racecar is the stuff of NASCAR legend, not just because of its fearsome name. In 1997, Gordon and his crew chief, Ray Evernham, unleashed an innovation that sent shockwaves through the racing world. The T-Rex wasn’t your average racecar but a meticulously engineered beast designed to dominate the competition.

Its revolutionary body design set the T-Rex apart, featuring aerodynamic tweaks that pushed the boundaries of NASCAR regulations. Evernham and his team exploited a loophole in the rulebook, creating an untouchable car. The car’s nickname, “T-Rex,” was a nod to its ferocious performance and the prehistoric predator it aimed to emulate.

Despite its success, NASCAR quickly caught wind of the T-Rex’s rule-bending innovations and promptly blacklisted the car. The legacy of the T-Rex lives on in racing lore as a symbol of ingenuity and boundary pushing in the pursuit of victory. Jeff Gordon’s approach to racing left a mark on the sport, proving that even if you bend the rules a little too far, the thrill of innovation is worth the risk.

6 Anchored Putters

Anchored putters gained fame for their unconventional design, featuring a longer shaft that could be anchored against the player’s body. The anchoring provided stability during the putting stroke. Golfers who struggled with traditional putting techniques embraced anchored putters as a game changer.

However, the joy was short-lived as the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the R&A, the sport’s global rule-makers, decided to put their foot down. In 2016, the ban on anchored putting came into effect, leaving golfers with anchored putters scratching their heads. The ruling aimed to maintain the traditional essence of the game, arguing that anchored putting offered an unfair advantage, especially in nerve-wracking situations on the green.

This decision sparked debates among golf enthusiasts worldwide. Supporters of anchored putters argued that they leveled the playing field for those struggling with putting. At the same time, opponents believed that the ban was necessary to preserve the integrity of the sport. Despite the controversy, the blacklisting of anchored putters remains a chapter in golf history. It’s a tale of innovation that pushed boundaries but ultimately collided with the strict rules of tradition.

5 Electrified Water: Hangover Cure

In the 1900s, there was a bizarre yet intriguing innovation aimed at battling the notorious hangover—electrified water. Yes, you heard it right, electrified water. Imagine waking up after a wild night out. Instead of reaching for the classic aspirin, you consider shock therapy through your water instead.

The concept was to pass a mild electric current through the water, claiming it would zap away the hangover blues. Before you start visualizing people sticking their fingers into their water cups, the process was a tad more sophisticated. Special devices were designed to electrify water, promising a swift cure for post-party suffering.

While it might sound like a product of the wild experimentation era, this electrified water hangover remedy did have some enthusiasts. They argued that the electric charge could somehow counteract the effects of excessive alcohol consumption, bringing relief to pounding headaches and queasy stomachs.

However, unsurprisingly, electrified water didn’t stand the test of time. As our understanding of science and medicine advanced, more effective and less shocking remedies emerged, leaving electrified water as a quirky footnote in the history of hangover cures.

4 Spring Spokes for Cars

In the era of early 1900s automotive innovation, one peculiar yet blacklisted creation emerged—the spring spoke wheels. Picture sleek cars cruising down the roads with wheels that defy the norms. These revolutionary wheels featured springs embedded within the spokes, promising a smoother ride and reduced impact on rough terrains.

The concept behind spring spoke wheels was to enhance shock absorption, making journeys more comfortable for passengers. Imagine riding over cobblestone streets without feeling every bump. Sounds like a dream, right? Unfortunately, reality had other plans. As cars became faster and roads evolved, the spring spoke wheels proved impractical and unreliable. The complexity of maintenance and manufacturing issues led to several incidents, earning these wheels a notorious spot in automotive history.

Ultimately, the blacklisting of spring spoke wheels wasn’t just about a failed innovation. It was a lesson in balancing ambition with feasibility. While these wheels may have vanished from the automotive scene, their brief stint serves as a reminder that not every idea, no matter how inventive, is destined for longevity.

3 Incandescent Light Bulb

The incandescent light bulb, a classic invention that brightened up our world for over a century, has found itself on the innovation blacklist. Why, you ask? Well, these seemingly harmless bulbs have been drawing flak for their energy inefficiency. As the world rallied toward sustainability, the incandescent bulb became an energy guzzler, converting a significant chunk of electricity into heat rather than light.

In 2007, the United States Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, putting the incandescent bulb on notice. The law aimed to phase out these power-hungry bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient alternatives like LEDs and CFLs. The rationale was clear—reducing energy consumption and, subsequently, carbon footprints.

While the incandescent bulb has been a symbol of illumination for generations, its environmental impact couldn’t be ignored. The ban on these bulbs in various countries was a nod toward a greener and more sustainable future. As we bid farewell to the incandescent era, the glow of innovation now comes in energy-efficient lighting, paving the way for a brighter, eco-friendly tomorrow.

2 Tesla’s Death Ray

“Death Ray” sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but believe it or not, Nikola Tesla once had plans for such a device. In the early 20th century, Tesla claimed to have designed a weapon capable of emitting potent energy beams to destroy enemy targets. This invention raised eyebrows and sparked curiosity and concern.

Tesla envisioned a world where his Death Ray would revolutionize warfare, rendering traditional weaponry obsolete. The device was said to harness and amplify electromagnetic energy, focusing it into a deadly beam capable of disintegrating anything in its path. While Tesla’s ideas were ahead of his time, the Death Ray never materialized beyond blueprints and theoretical discussions.

Interestingly, the Death Ray remains shrouded in mystery and controversy. Some speculate that governments or military organizations secretly pursued Tesla’s concepts. Others dismiss the idea as pure science fiction. Despite the intrigue surrounding the Death Ray, it never became a reality, and Tesla’s innovative yet speculative invention remains blacklisted in the annals of unconventional and unrealized ideas.

1 Spray on Hair (Not Blacklisted But Should Be)

Spray-on hair—the innovation that’s raising eyebrows and hairlines alike. Imagine a world where an aerosol can works to transform your thinning locks into a luscious mane. It’s like magic for your scalp, right? Well, not everyone is cheering for this hair-raising invention.

While spray-on hair might seem like a quick fix for those grappling with hair loss, it’s not all sunshine and good hair days. Critics argue that it’s a temporary solution masking a deeper issue. Instead of addressing the root cause (pun intended), spray-on hair conceals the problem, leaving users with a false sense of confidence.

Moreover, some products contain harsh chemicals that could damage your natural hair, making it a double-edged sword for those hoping to revive their strands. Imagine trying to cover up a bald spot only to end up with a disaster—not the kind of innovation anyone signed up for.

Besides, embracing one’s natural beauty and rocking a confident bald look is gaining popularity. Spray-on hair could fuel insecurities and encourage unrealistic beauty standards. So, while the spray-on hair trend might be tempting, perhaps it’s time to celebrate our bald and beautiful selves instead of relying on a can of illusions.

Food and drink are some of the most essential parts of life—we could not live without the sustenance they provide. Although there are some people in the world who are truly starving and would eat anything, modern man in most industrialized civilizations has made something of a hobby out of eating.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Failed McDonald’s Products

We spend millions on new designs and innovations to create foods and new cooking techniques that the world has never seen before. Here are 10 that will make your mouth water.

10 A Swiss Chocolatier Has Perfected His Formula For A New ‘Ruby’ Chocolate

For the longest time, we have been stuck with nearly the same varieties of chocolate, although you won’t hear most people complaining about that. Of course, there is the delicious white chocolate. Most varieties of milk or dark chocolate are fairly similar—they just have more actual cocoa in them.

Then came a Swiss chocolatier named Barry Callebaut. He has come up with a formula for an entirely new treat called “ruby chocolate.” The chocolate variety has a pinkish red hue. Although it does have some sweetness, it also has a bit of a sourness that you don’t usually expect from chocolate. It has already seen widespread testing in Japan and South Korea and will be hitting shelves in the UK in the form of a special KitKat on April 16, 2018.^[1]

This uncommon treat is supposed to have less of the usual cocoa taste without any crazy genetic modification. It’s created with an existing type of cocoa bean that is processed before fermentation. This is a patented trade secret at this point. Perhaps if it catches on, Callebaut will start licensing his secret to the big-name players.

9 Plant-Based Burgers That Taste And Even ‘Bleed’ Like A Real Meat Patty

After adopting their new eating habits, many vegans miss the taste of many foods they were once used to—American comfort foods that most of us could not imagine doing without. Vegans try to fill this void with substitutions made from plants, but most agree that a veggie burger really does not mimic the experience of a proper burger with a real meat patty.

Enter a small group of vegan scientists who want that experience and hope to convert meat eaters to vegans by giving them a proper substitute. Several years ago, these scientists started Impossible Foods, a company in Silicon Valley, to make that perfect fake burger.

The company has been using complicated food science to mimic the taste, texture, and entire experience of eating a burger with a real meat patty. Multiple plant products go into their formula, but beet juice is the key to making it seem like the burger actually bleeds.^[2]

They say that the key to their success was something called heme, a building block of life that is found in both meat and plants and helped them imitate the taste and texture appropriately. There is already limited testing of the Impossible Burger in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. You may also get lucky and find it locally because Impossible Burger is trying to get as many restaurants as possible to try out their product.

8 Grapes That Taste Just Like Cotton Candy And Are All Natural

Due to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we now have hybrid fruits and vegetables with special flavors that you would never imagine finding in nature. Some people decry these foods because they are worried about GMOs even though scientists say they are not dangerous. However, for those who are worried about GMOs, they can breathe easy when it comes to this amazing, tasty treat.

According to the farmer who invented them, cotton candy grapes were carefully designed by crossbreeding various species of wild grapes until the desired flavor was achieved. No genetic engineering or laboratory trickery was involved.

Cotton candy grapes were conceived, cultivated, and ultimately invented by a lone farmer who had a really good idea and started working slowly but surely on his new creation. They can be found at most grocery stores today and, due to their novelty, tend to cost a little bit more than traditional grapes.^[3]

However, most people who have tried them feel that the taste is well worth the price. In blind taste tests, most people have no expectations beforehand yet identify these grapes as tasting like cotton candy.

7 Ice Cream That Is Made Right In Front Of You Using Liquid Nitrogen

A few years ago, a husband-and-wife team of engineers wowed the sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank when they used liquid nitrogen to make delicious ice cream right in front of everyone. All but one of the sharks enjoyed the delicious treats and were impressed by both the wow factor and the safety of the process.

However, the sharks were not impressed enough to offer the inventors a deal. Although they liked the idea, they felt the business wasn’t where it needed to be. The company wanted to pursue franchising, and the sharks did not agree with that business plan.

Although the sharks didn’t invest, the company founders have continued on their journey. Sub Zero Ice Cream has slowly started franchising throughout the country and wants to make this exciting new experience a global brand.^[4]

The new method wows children and adults alike. It also removes the need for a freezer, which means less of a carbon footprint and lower energy costs for the franchisee. The process involves using liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze whatever flavor ingredients you want. Then you just stir it properly as it freezes to get that desired creamy consistency.

6 Edible Water Orbs That Can Replace Plastic Bottles And Are Entirely Biodegradable

Not that long ago in relative terms, bottled water was a rare commodity that was only used by people in rural or other areas without proper access to potable water. Then, during the 1990s, bottled water started to become a huge trend. Now landfills all over the world are overflowing with plastic bottles.

Plastic takes a long time to break down. The amount of trash created from these containers is practically apocalyptic, even though many advocates have pushed for people to buy reusable water bottles.

A company called Skipping Rocks Lab has come up with a product called Ooho, which they believe can revolutionize how we drink water on the go. To reduce the amount of waste around the world, they created a stable, flavorless orb from which you can drink water. Then you can eat the orb afterward.^[5]

Made of algae, it is biodegradable if you decide to throw it away instead of eating it. The creators believe that these orbs could replace plastic water bottles entirely with the right distribution. They would also greatly decrease the garbage problem from our massive plastic consumption.

5 The Anti-Griddle Is Expensive, But It Allows For Incredible And Speedy Frozen Creations

One of the more fascinating new pieces of culinary equipment is the anti-griddle. It was originally dreamed up by Grant Achatz, a guest judge on Top Chef, who used it in his Chicago restaurant. After people started to notice his invention, he worked with Philip Preston, an expert on new culinary devices, to make the anti-griddle available for the global mass market.

This device allows you to flash-freeze or semi-freeze foods almost instantly. Unfortunately, most individuals cannot afford to buy the anti-griddle. Mainly restaurants with higher budgets can afford them. With the basic models clocking in at around $1,500 each, most people cooking at home will consider them as an overly expensive luxury.

However, for those who do want to try them out, the folks at Instructables have your back. They provide a step-by-step blueprint with pictures to build a functioning DIY version of the anti-griddle for about $15. If you are handy with tools and enjoy making things, you could be like the crazy chefs on TV for less than 20 bucks.^[6]

4 Cricket Flour Helps Ease People Into A Valuable New Food Source While Tasting Delicious

As food sources become scarcer around the world, people are becoming increasingly worried about how we are going to feed everyone. The world already struggles with hunger in many regions around the globe, and some think that climate change will make things noticeably worse within the next few decades.

There is also concern that the beef industry has a gigantic carbon footprint and may not be entirely sustainable in the future. To combat these worries, some scientists have gone to disgusting lengths. They are trying to get us to eat bugs.

Once you get past the ick factor, eating bugs is not a bad idea. They are high in protein, and there are tons of them around. They are also relatively easy to breed. Most people are grossed out by the idea, but entrepreneurs have found a way to get people started.

They have created a flour from crickets, which helps remove the disgust factor.^[7] This flour has been used in many successful products—from chips to protein bars. No one knows if it will catch on in a major way in the Western world, but it would be a great food source. As flour used for baking, it may help people to get past their initial reservations about eating bugs.

3 Once Only For Snobby Chefs, Sous Vide Is Becoming Increasingly Mainstream

In the last several years, one of the most talked-about innovations in food is the new sous vide cooking trend. This involves putting food inside plastic bags and then submerging the bags in water to slowly and consistently cook with little babysitting or work needed in between.

Many chefs and restaurants have started using the method because it allows them to do a lot of things at once without paying much attention. Sous vide also results in nearly perfect cooking every time.

Quite a few people consider this method of cooking incredibly pretentious. In fact, most home cooks are convinced that they can’t do this without a huge investment. Immersion circulators and special thermometers for the process can set you back thousands once you have a full set, but Martha Stewart has your back.

She explains how to sous vide at home on the cheap.^[8] You just need basic cooking thermometers, plastic Ziploc bags, and the proper knowledge. It may be easier and neater to use fancy equipment, but you can do the process just fine at home without it.

2 The Trend To Eat Black Ice Cream Made With Activated Charcoal Is Dangerous For Some

Recently on social media, black ice cream has become a big trend. It started as a backlash to the recent unicorn trend, especially after the debacle in which Starbucks gave several of their baristas nervous breakdowns.

The first shop to sell this creation was the Little Damage ice cream shop in Los Angeles, California. But the idea soon took off. You cannot copyright a recipe, and before long, people discovered that the ice cream was made using activated charcoal. Specialty shops everywhere started doing it.

Although it is a delicious and harmless trend for most people, some individuals should be quite cautious before they enjoy this new treat. You may have heard that grapefruit can have bad interactions with certain medicines. Well, ice cream made with activated charcoal can cause similar problems.^[9]

The reason is that activated charcoal can be a potent detoxifier. This can draw the medications out of your body, thus causing them to become ineffective. It’s not just a problem for people who are ill. The activated charcoal in black ice cream can also affect people who take vitamins or birth control pills.

1 Deboned Baby Back Rib Steaks That Aren’t A Mishmash

Al “Bubba” Baker was a former NFL player who spent 13 seasons as a defensive lineman for several teams. He ended his respectable career with the Cleveland Browns in 1990. However, like many former NFL players, he got out of sports and found himself bored and wondering what to do for a new career.

Well, Bubba really liked ribs, but his wife didn’t. They were too messy. He wanted her to be able to enjoy ribs like he did, but he didn’t want her to have to accept a Frankenstein “rib” creation like the stuff you get from McDonald’s for a limited time. So, he started working on a process—which he patented—to take the bones out of a whole rib and keep the meat intact.

He had only $154,000 in total sales when he went on Shark Tank, but the sharks were incredibly impressed by him, his product, and his patent on a food process. Ultimately, he made a deal with Daymond John, who helped him meet some important executives at the parent companies of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.^[10]

They made a multimillion-dollar deal to buy his boneless ribs to sell at their fast-food restaurants around the country, and his sales leaped to $16 million in three years. Baker’s simple dream to help his wife enjoy one of his favorite foods has made him a multimillionaire whose family is now set for life.

And, if the idea of a rib sandwich with a whole, authentic boneless rib sounds mouthwatering to you, just make your way over to a Carl’s Jr. or a Hardee’s restaurant, where they still feature sandwiches with the new boneless ribs on their menus.

Modern-day Iran sits on the ruins of some of the earliest and most-advanced civilizations in history, even if most of them remain largely forgotten. These kingdoms were responsible for many innovations we take for granted today – from the post office to windmills to the humble ice cream. 

10. Refrigeration

Yakhchal was an ancient Persian refrigeration technology developed around 400 BC. It’s easily one of the earliest methods of refrigeration we know of, and it resembles modern refrigerators to a large extent, at least in its uses. Yakhchals were made with a large mud-brick dome above ground and were designed to store ice in the scorching desert climate of ancient Persia, often reaching heights of up to 60 feet. 

Below the ground, spacious underground chambers were used for storing ice, food, and everything else that needed to be refrigerated. The key material used was a special mortar called s?rooj, made of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash, which provided effective insulation.

The cooling mechanism of these ancient refrigerators was based on evaporation, which cooled the air with evaporating water. During winters, ice was brought from nearby mountains and stored in these ice-pits, ensuring a constant supply throughout the year. 

9. Windmills

Nashtifan – a village in northeastern Iran – is home to well-preserved examples of windmills that first cropped up across ancient Persia, also known as asbads. These towering structures, standing at about 65 feet tall and around 1,000 years old, were among the earliest windmills in history. They were made with clay, straw, and wood, and were primarily used to pump water and grind grain into flour. 

Interestingly, this design vastly differs from the familiar European horizontal axis windmills, as they’re powered by drag rather than lift, with their wooden blades placed on a vertical axis. Currently, these ancient structures are under the protection of one Ali Muhammed Etebari – a local volunteer from a nearby village. 

8. Chess

It’s difficult to say whether chess originated in Iran or India, though undoubtedly, ancient Persia still had a huge role to play in its popularity today. Some historical accounts mention the game as a classic contest between the Indians and Persians, mostly to show off their intelligence to the other.

Persian influence on the game can be seen in its terminology, and vice versa. Over the years, many words from chess, like ‘rukh’ – meaning rook – and ‘shah mat’ – or checkmate – have entered the Persian lexicon. 

Some of the earliest surviving chess pieces have been discovered in northeastern Iran, and the same can’t be said for any other country. In a famous dig made near the city of Afrasiyab, archeologists found ivory chess pieces resembling Persian rukhs. 

7. Battery

The ancient Baghdad or Parthian batteries were discovered near Baghdad during the construction of a new railway in 1936. They date back to the Parthian empire around 2,000 years ago – a powerful empire existing between 247 BC and 224 AD in what is now Iran. 

These old batteries were made with clay jars and stoppers made of asphalt, with an iron rod surrounded by a copper cylinder. When filled with an electrolytic solution – like vinegar – the jars could produce a voltage of around 1.1 volts, though their exact purpose is still unknown. 

While not all scientists agree on their specific function, one theory says that they were used for electroplating – an industrial process where one layer of a metal is applied to the surface of another metal, like silver or gold. 

6. Miniatures

The art of Persian miniature painting emerged and flourished during the Mongol and Timurid periods from the 13th to 16th centuries, reaching its zenith around the 15th century. Additionally, Mongolian rulers that came to Iran brought Chinese influence and artisans with them, further adding to the unique Persian artistic tradition. 

Miniatures were primarily used as illustrations, as they could make stories and plots feel more immersive. There was also a meddling of art and poetry during this time, as miniatures were the perfect medium for narrating the best poetic works from ancient Persia. Notable works in the field include miniatures derived from works like Ferdowsi and Nezami’s epic poems, Shahnameh and Khamsa, respectively. The development of Persian miniatures also gave rise to distinct schools with their own style and regional influences across Iran, like Shiraz, Tabriz, and Herat.

5. Ice Cream

To the best of our knowledge, ice cream is a popular dessert everywhere. We’re still not sure exactly who invented it first –  as the journey goes through many empires and cultures – we know that the first form of the modern ice cream showed up in Persia some time around 500 BC. 

The Persians developed something called bastani, which combined grape juice, fruit juice, and other sweet flavors to make something that resembles the ice cream we know. This early version was like a sorbet in appearance and taste, and used to be so expensive that it was considered a luxury. The invention of the above-mentioned Yakhchals ensured that the dessert stayed cold for long periods of time, allowing for experimentation and more varied types of ancient-Iranian ice creams. 

4. Qanat

The qanat system was an ancient method of water harvesting that originated in Persia, some time around 2,500 or 3,000 years ago. The technique was so successful that old qanats could still be found in regions ruled by ancient Iranians, primarily in Iran and Afghanistan. In Iran alone, there are estimated to be around 50,000 qanats spread across its arid regions. Sadly, many of them have fallen into disrepair or dried up due to factors like silt sedimentation, urban migration, and decline in expert knowledge to manage them.

Qanats are mainly used in irrigation. The most common design involves a network of underground canals that harness water from mountainous aquifers, which is then transported downhill through sloping tunnels to fields and other areas that need irrigation. The technology is known by different names in various regions, including falaj, khettara, foggara, and karez. 

3. Academic Medicine

The concept of hospitals that are also medical schools is common around the world today, though most people forget its true origins. The ancient city of Gondishapur in Persia played a crucial role in the development of academic medicine, as it invited medical scholars from around the world – from Greeks to Indians to Syriacs – to come and practice their craft in the city. This congregation of ancient knowledge from different civilizations led to the birth of teaching hospitals, medical schools, and academic medicine. 

Under the Sasanian empire between 226 to 652 AD, Gondishapur became known as the ‘city of Hippocrates’. The city’s academy offered training in various disciplines other than medicine, like philosophy, theology, and science. Scholars from different civilizations studied there, as they translated and practiced texts from ancient Indian, Syriac, and Greco-Roman sources. This was where medical education moved to a system where medical students worked and learned under the supervision of other, more-experienced experts.

2. Mail

The British Empire is often credited as the first civilization to have a functioning postal service, though in reality, it’s not even close. Between 550 and 330 AD, the Achaemenid Persian empire established an extensive postal network that spanned their vast empire, stretching from Greece in the west to India in the east. The centerpiece of this system was the renowned Royal Road – a 1,500-mile highway connecting Sardis in Asia Minor to the Persian capital at Susa. 

This road allowed the Persians to establish one of the world’s first postal systems we know of, with efficient mail delivery carried out by expert horsemen. The Royal Road was an engineering marvel in itself, being the first and longest road of its kind in history, even surpassing many modern interstate highways in length. 

Messages were relayed from one courier to another regardless of weather conditions. This network played a crucial role in gathering intelligence throughout the empire, and was largely used for administrative purposes, like issuing decrees and maintaining adminstrative control over the vast Persian territories.

1. Human Rights

Written in 539 BC, the Cyrus Cylinder was a treatise of peace named after one of the great emperors of Persia – Cyrus the Great. It contained what many historians agree was the first declaration of human rights by an organized state in history. 

The cylinder, discovered in Babylon in modern-day Iraq in 1879, details King Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon and the subsequent advancements in civilization and science across his empire. It declared freedom for the slaves and immunity from persecution for the entire Jewish population, along with a charter on equal treatment of all races living within the cities. These principles inspired subsequent declarations of individual rights in history, including the Magna Carta, the US Constitution, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

They’re creepy. They’re crawly. They’re literally everywhere we go, whether we notice them or not. They’re also the inspiration for innovation! What?

Most of us don’t want spiders anywhere near us. It’s always unsettling when they sneak up on us in the shower, while sleeping, walking into an unseen web, suddenly leaping massive distances, or appearing abruptly from a crevice. Their reputation even prompts thoughts of burning down our homes when we come across them! Some are huge, some are deadly, most are harmless, and they eat a lot of things that can harm us.

But it turns out they can inspire much more than fear or super-humans who can sling webs and save those in peril. Who knew these frightening, little, eight-legged creatures could give us way more than we ever imagined. Here are 10 innovations we can thank these little “horrors” for influencing. So maybe they’re not as bad as we like to believe they are. Our nightmares are giving way to dreams of a brighter future.

Related: 10 Strange Facts And Mysteries Involving Spiders

10 Better Than Band-Aids: Surgical Tape That Adheres to Wet Surfaces

Chances are you have definitely needed a band-aid, stitches, or gauze and medical tape to keep a healing wound clean at some point in your life—unless you live in a padded room with no sharp edges anywhere and don’t have any fingernails (but that’s a whole other list). So you probably also know how annoying it can be to have to constantly replace them when they get wet and start slipping around, losing their original purpose. So frustrating…and a bit expensive over time. Here come spiders to save the day and your skin.

Scientists at MIT are in the process of perfecting a surgical tape that can adhere to and seal wounds in seconds by using water the same way spider webs absorb water, resulting in a stickier insect grabber. It is a two-sided adhesive with an incredibly strong bond and has been successfully tested on pig skin and lungs. They used a polyacrylic acid to absorb the water and create a bond reinforced by gelatin that will break down harmlessly in the body as the wound heals. No need to schedule a second appointment for stitch removal or itchy rashes from adhesive medical tape. That sounds pretty great.^[1]

9 Step Back, Kevlar: Spider Silk Body Armor

Kevlar may become an invention of the past even though it, too, was inspired by spider silk. The light, intensely strong polymer used in things from body armor to sailboat sails pales in comparison to some of its newer off-shoots also developed from that sticky elastic that we’ve all unknowingly and unhappily wandered into at some point.

It takes 33 layers of Kevlar to stop a .22 caliber bullet. But a new material, dubbed “Dragon Silk,” made from silk produced by Golden Orb Weaver spiders, can stop the same caliber bullet with only 4 layers. Now that is impressive! It’s so promising that the U.S. Army has invested in its production and expects to be using it extensively in the future. It has taken millions of spiders to create what they have so far. Thank you for your service, you webby geniuses.

And then, there is artificial silk resulting from work being done at Washington University in St. Louis that is called “polymeric amyloid” fiber. This is a derivative of spider silk created from an “engineered bacteria that produced a recombinant silk with performance on par with its natural counterparts in all of the important mechanical properties.” The aim is now to create something even stronger than spider silk. Turns out smarty human brains, bacteria, and spiders make a great team.^[2]

8 Webs Used for Micro-Imaging: Tiny Dome Lenses

The medical world is really fostering a love for incredible spider abilities. At the Tamkang and Yang-Ming Universities in Taiwan, researchers are designing minuscule lenses that can be used for imaging inside a human body. These lenses are so small that they are almost comparable in size to a red blood cell. So they’ll pretty much be able to go anywhere in the body blood goes…so everywhere. That has some extremely promising applications.

They did this by using the actual “dragline silk” of Daddy Long Legs used to frame their webs. A resin was then dripped over the silk frame and baked inside of an ultraviolet oven. As a result, the lenses are also bio-friendly in the body and capable of nanoscale imaging. It could be truly revolutionary for medical research and far less invasive than current technologies. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we ended up with Spidey-senses as a side effect?^[3]

7 Cheeky Devils!: Spider Venom May Be Better Than Viagra

Men who have had the misfortune of being bitten by one of the world’s most venomous spiders, The Brazilian Wandering Spider, have had another detailed side effect beyond pain and torture…very persistent erections. Now there is no recommendation to go find one of these nightmare-inducing beasts and goad it to bite you before a private get-together! But science has taken a cue and some toxins from them to fabricate a gel that achieves the same result.

Granted, the BZ371 gel probably needs a more enticing moniker for the public. But it apparently does its job very well within 20-30 minutes of application without any stimulation, with no side effects as well. And it is reported to last for about 60 minutes. Let’s help out the marketing departments. What are some good names for this wonder gel?^[4]

6 Eight Spindly Limbs: Inspiration for More Efficient Robots

Even if the spiders’ crawl sends chills up your spine, you have to admit it’s one of a kind and lets them do some very remarkable things. If we could all move as well as they do, we’d be fairly unstoppable. Unfortunately, we’re just six legs short with very limited joint direction and flexibility. Even practicing yoga for eight hours a day will never get us anywhere close to the movements of our arachnid brethren. But this ability hasn’t been lost on the robotics world.

Researchers have created limbs and joints in imitation of spider legs that allow greater functionality and fewer components needed for robots used in many different ways. The results are much lighter, smaller parts with superior mobility that can be used in virtually any robot. It has been hailed as a true leap forward in the robotics field. High-eight, Spiders!…but from way, way over there, please.^[5]

5 We Can All Potentially Be Spider-Man!: Real Web Shooters

Who hasn’t wanted to be able to shoot webs after watching or reading Spider-Man? It’s one of those things you pretend you can do even as an adult play-acting alone because it’s so cool (don’t lie, you can admit it—this is a safe place!). Rest assured, someone is working on making it come to life. It may even allow us to swing from building to building eventually as they are perfected. Well, maybe by those physically adept enough to do some gymnastic-like stunts or parkour. Time to start working on that upper body and core strength.

A mechanical engineer and YouTuber from South Africa named JT has created some pretty awesome web-shooters for a thesis project that he has featured on his channel, Built IRL. This is one you’re going to search immediately—because why wouldn’t you? He uses metal cylinders with a long cable embedded with metal hooks that can grab onto metal bars. They’re powered by compressed propane and “a custom-designed igniter.” It’s fun to see life inspired by art stolen from something that truthfully creeps most of us out! Go Spidey-JT.^[6]

4 Trendy, Functional Spider-Wear: Sustainable Web-Inspired Fashion

Now, let’s just admit that the fashion world can take things way too far and look pretty ridiculous in practical life. Of course, these are opinions of someone whose fashion sense is comfortable, plain sneakers, a blank T-shirt, and yoga pants or jeans. Not exactly runway ready! But fashion change can also energize and galvanize an industry that has become environmentally unfriendly with its throw-away culture, synthetic fibers, and toxic processes. Here come spiders to the rescue, again.

A company called Bolt Threads, the first of its kind, has bioengineered a yeast with a spider silk protein gene. As the yeast ferments, it creates a silk protein that is then purified and spun into a textile called MicroSilk. Adidas has already used a hybrid of this material to make a lightweight tennis dress. Another company, AMSilk, has produced a similar material called BioSteel which Adidas has used in a sneaker. And now it seems the airline industry is becoming more interested in these synthetic silk materials because of the weight reduction. Innovation that mimics nature to save nature. Glorious.^[7]

3 Poison Can Kill Pain: Tarantula Venom Could Replace Opioids

We’ve all recently become aware of how real, destructive, and threatening the widespread use of synthetic opioids has become. The side effects can come in many forms: rash, constipation, nausea, respiratory distress, even addiction, and more. The need for alternative pain treatments for people suffering chronic and neuropathic pain is real, and science is on the case.

At the University of Queensland, researchers have found molecules in tarantula venom from the Chinese Bird Spider that can be developed into mini proteins that adhere to pain receptor cells. When used in the correct amount, it can surround the cell membrane around the pain receptors, blocking their abilities. And so far, there have been no recorded side effects.

Now, that is real relief. All the studies have been done on mice for now, but the results are very optimistic for future pain reduction. Who would have ever thought something that delivers some vicious pain could also be used to combat it? Gotta love, or at least appreciate, science.^[8]

2 Spider Silk Milk: Goat Genes Manipulated to Produce Spider Silk

Move over, Dr. Frankenstein! Biomimicry science is growing leaps and bounds. We’re finally taking more lessons from nature instead of trying to dominate her. A company called Nexia has been genetically manipulating goat eggs with Golden Orb Weaver silk genes to create goats that produce spider silk proteins along with their milk. This is possible because the glands in goats that make milk and the glands in spiders that produce silk are very similar. And goat milk has been used to produce other medicines too. So it was a reasonable leap in the scientific mind despite the inevitable controversy.

But, why, right? It’s somewhat common knowledge that spider silks are as strong as or stronger than steel. This strength, along with the flexibility and durability, could have a huge array of usable applications in our daily lives, from engineering buildings and roads in earthquake-prone areas to surgical grafting. So mass-producing the silk is an attractive idea. It’s still not up to snuff with what the spiders can make…yet. But they’re going to keep on weaving until it gets there.^[9]

1 Reflective Webs Can Save Birds: UV-Reflective Glass

Birds have a very unique aspect to their vision; they can see ultraviolet light. How many birds have collided with the glass in your home’s windows? That loud, telling thud is usually startling and occasionally damaging to the glass. Some birds are just stunned for a bit, and some end up quite dead. Well, it turns out that spider webs reflect ultraviolet light that our feathered friends can see. This is why they don’t have to constantly rebuild those dainty insect death traps with all the birds sharing the same spaces. Instead, our feathered friends can see them to avoid them, saving the spider time and work and the bird a sticky, unwanted mess. That’s actually pretty cool!

This discovery inspired a German glass company, Glaswerke Arnold, to develop the Orinlux Bird Protection Glass. Buildings that use this glass embedded with UV-reflective strands have reportedly had 75-90 percent fewer bird strikes. To us, the windows just look like your average, transparent pane of glass while the “invisible,” chaotic, UV patterns warn birds there is no open air to soar through. It was developed in 2006 and is finally taking hold across many new buildings while being projected to be very widely used in the near future. Yay for bird safety and spider inspiration!^[10]

+ Spider Music!

If you haven’t heard it yet, people have now used the construction of spider webs to create music with 3-D video, and it’s as eerie as you would imagine it to be! Have a listen. Spider Canvas was a collaborative project between MIT’s CAST faculty, a Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, the head of the same department, a Music and Theatre Arts lecturer, and a composer and video artist.

This amazing web of work is truly beautiful and haunting. Halloween just got a new theme song.^[11]

“We’re living in the future” seems truer today than in eras past. The jump from telegram to the telephone was big. The jump from sitting in a dark room alone to the damned internet is huge…despite a lot of internet use involving sitting in a dark room, alone. The pace of technological development has slowed in recent decades, but the rate is insignificant when compared to the new inventions that are coming to the fore.

Here are 10 examples of soon-to-be-developed or bet-you-didn’t-know-this-was-a-thing innovations that’ll make you look at your surroundings and say: “James Cameron? Are you making all this happen?… Are you watching me right now?”

Related: Top 10 Short-Lived Inventions That Changed The World

10 No More “Pew Pew”

For all the uber high-tech teleportation-y, voice command-y, thought reading-y machines we’ve become accustomed to in science fiction movies, the weapons are probably the coolest aspect in these films and TV shows. How easy would deer hunting be with a phaser? What about protecting your home with a lightsaber? Doing a quick bit of target practice with a Warhammer 40k bolter gun. Well, the last one may become a reality soon.

U.S. company Arcflash Labs has developed the first commercially available hand-held Gauss rifle. The gun/cannon/tool to save the world from aliens is essentially an electromagnetic catapult, the projectile hurried along the barrel by coiled magnets that are turned on and off at very precise intervals. This process allows the shot to speed up at an incredible rate before leaving your gun and exploding some Xenomorph carapace.

Or at least that’s where the tech will get to someday—for now, Arcflash Labs’ GR-1 Anvil will propel the projectile (which is a steel rod) at around 200 feet per second, delivering around 75 ft-pounds of energy. Not too shabby for a first go. But if any wrong-doer came face to face with you holding one of these bad boys, it’s all but certain they won’t mess with you—nobody messes with “Doom Guy.”^[1]

9 #Ultracapacitorevolution

Doesn’t it feel like we’re a hair’s breadth from an energy tech breakthrough that’ll change everything forever? Well, either that or total societal collapse…

The development of ultracapacitors could be enough of a change to stave off our implosion for a few years. These neat little energy storage thingamabobs may well replace batteries someday. Currently, Skeleton Tech is ramping up production of their curved graphene units. These little beauties aren’t quite as good at storing energy as traditional lithium-ion batteries (yet), but boy, do they pack a punch in output. A huge punch.

Skeleton provides the batteries as a supplement for traditional cell batteries in transport systems (from electric cars to public transit vehicles), allowing all the supplemental electric processes to be powered by the ultracapacitors. This frees up energy output for propelling the vehicle as well as saving space and weight, further boosting overall performance. The further and faster we can go, the quicker we can focus on bigger problems—what drama will Joe Rogan be embroiled in next? Y’know, real existential questions like that.^[2]

8 Triffids Are Tasty

When The Simpsons released the classic episode “E-I-E-I-D’oh” in 1999, nobody expected that any old dufus sans a lab and a fancy Ph.D. from MIT could just splice two species of plant together like Homer did with tomatoes and tobacco.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

Sorry, that was needlessly morbid. Back in 2013, a gardening company in England released a commercially available TomTato plant, a hybrid between cherry tomatoes and white potatoes. Since then, green-thumbed mad-scientist-emulating amateurs have gotten busy grafting. Now, with the help of a YouTube tutorial or two, you can create the next wonder crop that’ll solve world hunger. It’s all about careful grafting, the amazing combination of surgical skills and gardening.^[3]

Or doom us all to overlordship by genetically mutated SproutKumquats. All hail the bitter tangers!

7 Art Meets Fashion Meets Future Tech

Many people find high fashion, for want of a better term, utter sh*t and pointlessly decadent. Clothes nobody wears shown off by people who often don’t look human with less artistic merit than a Bob Ross painting of a tree, a lake, and a bush. But fear not, millennial cynics/realists, futuristic tech will come to the rescue!

Cutting-edge fashion designer Iris Van Herpen is artfully crafting her catwalk pieces using 3-D printing technology and sophisticated AI-analyzing tech. The results, especially compared with the usual stupid-looking nonsense seen at Paris, London, Milan, and New York, are quite beguiling. Plus, the sheer amount of technical wizardry employed proves that fashion can adapt, not just degrade.^[4]

6 Meating Expectations

It seems that, whether we like it or not, meat is slowly leaving the world’s menu. Sure, it’ll never completely leave—we have canine teeth in our gobs, and nobody likes it when their 30/30 ammo goes bad. But expect to see most mass-produced, supermarket-sold meat products soon replaced by meat alternatives. Many people will celebrate, many will be up in arms, most of us only care about one thing: Does the facon really taste like bacon?

Pioneering Israeli company RedefineMeat seems to have gotten pretty damned close. Legendary chef Marco Pierre White (the bloke who taught Gordon Ramsey that the essence of great cuisine is swearing at everyone) described the products he was tasked to cook with as “the most clever thing I’ve ever seen in my 45 years of being in a kitchen.” High praise from a guy that doesn’t do high praise. Made from plant-based ingredients like pea protein and beetroot, their product range boasts no GMOs, antibiotics, and all the other nasties associated with factory-farmed meat. From sausages and burgers to flank steak, experts suggest that alternative meat products like these may reach 10% of the global “meat” market by 2029.^[5]

5 The (Augmented) Realities of War

Military advancements are more than just how big a bang a new bomb can make—wartime innovation drove the technological advancements of the 20th century. From radio technology to nuclear energy, no WWII means no internet, slower automotive advances, and a very different (probably still sepia-toned) world. The latest area of tech we can expect a massive leap in is augmented reality. Why? The U.S. military just sunk billions of dollars into developing it. That’ll do it.

Augmented reality is like the more sci-fi version of VR; elements of virtual reality are melded with our real-world surroundings. Think of those cool visors on the helmets of futuristic soldiers or what Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator saw from his POV—real-time analysis of the surroundings appearing in your eyeline. It means Yelp reviews popping in your eyeline as you pass a café, the latest football scores as you see a billboard for the Dallas Cowboys…you get the idea. More than just a few lines of text will start to be incorporated—maps, diagrams, and even media clips, all playing as you walk around…in 3-D.

The U.S. Armed Forces are developing this tech for their fighting men. But optimized for the battlefield, obviously.^[6]

4 Lifting Made Easy

Not every advancement needs to be super high-tech. Look at the grafted and hybridized plants—that’s just gardening. Digitized exoskeletons sound super high-tech. What about a basic harness that aids in lifting, saving you from a bad back? A nifty little product but hardly Battleship Galactica stuff. But sometimes, the simplest-seeming innovations can be game changers. Game changers that allow us to traverse the stars.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic.

This harness, the result of years of research from salubrious institutions like Harvard, hopes to make back strains a thing of the past. Heavy loads become much easier to lift, up to 50 extra pounds without a problem, all without causing harm if you don this figure-boosting harness. It doesn’t look like something Neo would wear, but any augmentation that boosts human ability is super futuristic.

No? Well, imagine this device helping an astrophysicist with a perpetually bad back get over his or her pain and finally discover warp travel. See, it is futuristic.^[7]

3 Fusion. Finally. Maybe.

It seems like fusion tech may be just around the corner. A long, long, long corner. It’s been decades since waggish science reporters started chirping about mankind’s next onward leap in energy—fusion power. Just a few more years, they said…in the ’70s.

Recent developments in the field do now seem to herald the dawn of the fusion age, however. Fusion’s potential is ridiculous—safer, cleaner, cheaper, and incredible in terms of energy output. The fusion of 0.1g of deuterium and 0.3g of lithium could power the average American household for a year. These elements occur naturally. And abundantly. In late 2021, MIT and a fusion start-up called Commonwealth Fusion systems seemed to have leaped over the last great hurdle in the race for fusion power—the insanely powerful magnets required.

Using a high-temperature superconductor tape, they managed to create one of the most powerful magnets ever made. With lower-than-expected power input and the type of magnetic field needed to allow safe fusion power generation. The test they ran proved that the math behind their concept was sound, paving the way for fusion generators to become a reality. Finally.

By 2025, the team hopes to debut SPARC, the first fusion device that’ll attain net energy output. The hope then is that the investment that this will attract could allow for fusion to be the go-to energy source soon.^[8]

Oh, and the “power?” It could very well be unlimited.

2 From the Depths to the Heights?

A whole ton of these technological advances, many listed here, could go one of two ways—save mankind or doom mankind. It’s tough to imagine a positive use for the burgeoning field of “deepfake” synthetic media. Anyone with the technical know-how can clip your face from a photo, run it through an AI-driven program and superimpose your mug onto any other piece of media they want: “Are you sure it wasn’t you throwing that Molotov cocktail into the orphanage, Ms. Jones? What about this video we found?” Chilling.

But it isn’t all bad. In 2019, David Beckham was used as a spokesman for malaria awareness via the organization Malaria Must Die. Instead of forcing the tinny-voiced retiree to learn eight different languages, deepfake tech was employed, allowing various actors to voice the message in their native tongues while seemingly to come out of Becks’ mouth. Pretty cool. Another cool use of the tech is Samsung’s AI lab manipulating an image of the Mona Lisa, allowing her to move around and talk (real Harry Potter vibes on this one, but don’t hold that against them).

Beyond these cool but arguably frivolous examples, hospitals are now employing deepfake tech to create fake patients, keeping real patients’ data safe. Still, is it all worth it when some nefarious people could stick your face on a murderer’s torso or make it seem like you’ve said something cancellable? It may even be the case that this tech pushes mankind into new levels of paranoia; ultimate paranoia—what even is reality anymore if you can’t trust anything you see?^[9]

Time will tell, but all this seems (warning: word of the last two years coming up) rather dystopian.

1 The Future Is Ours to Fix. Literally.

Let’s step away from inventions and scientific advancements for a moment and focus on the really juicy stuff—customer service policies.

Okay, so maybe not the most inspiring or adrenaline-pushing subject, but a new policy that looks to become the norm in the tech world may very well be a real game changer. In late 2021, Apple made an announcement that shocked techno anarchists and “right to repair” advocates everywhere. They basically said, “Yup, you’re right. We’ll make it happen,” allowing customers to have access to previously unavailable parts and tools needed to fix their own broken devices.

This sounds like a simple act of PR, but if you consider the greater consolidation of the market we’ve seen, a not-insignificant portion of the “power” has been ceded back to the consumer. Maybe the scary Big Tech oligarchs have realized that a miserable populace with no choice doesn’t make for good drones, or maybe they aren’t the evil overlords we thought they were. Whatever the rationale, this news should be bigger, given the ramifications. A Star Trek future looks slightly more attainable in the wake of this.^[10]

Since the dawn of mankind he has been striving to make life easier through invention and innovation. Many of his creations have been lifesaving and have saved us all time by making us a much more productive civilization, while others have been purely evil and have reflected man and his inhumanity to his fellow man. Throughout time there have no doubt been many more inventions that have failed miserably and thus have never seen the light of day, while at the same time a good number should never have made it past the drawing board. Plastic is one of these that always creeps into this writer’s mind. This invention has been so useful it is hard to imagine life without it, but yet there’s a giant mass of this substance in the Pacific Ocean dubbed the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” which glaringly illustrates the harsh, long-term effects of this most useful invention. Please keep reading to learn more on just how insensitive, and sometimes downright creepy, yet brilliant, man’s inventive mind has been, and can be…

10 Homegrown North Korean ‘Inventions’

10 Gas Resistant Strollers

In England, a quite ungainly contraption known as the “Gas-Proof Pram,” was born out of fear and necessity. These gas-proof prams, or gas-resistant strollers were a product produced in the late 1930’s, both by the use of mustard and chlorine gas in World War One and the looming threat of their use again by the new Nazi regime. Although there is not much information available on these short-lived things (hence the reason for the brevity of this article), they were produced by F.W. Mills hailing from Kent in South East England to protect babies and toddlers from deadly gas in the advent of German air raids. These strollers were generally equipped with a lid that had a glass panel and a gas filter on top. On the rear the stroller was also fitted with a motor horn bulb to ventilate stale air from the interior. Fortunately, these disturbing devices were never needed for their intended purposes and were never produced in any great quantities, and were never tested in battle.

9 The Cotton Gin

Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 and patented by him the following year, the cotton gin revolutionized the industry in America by allowing far more of the so-called “white gold” to be processed. The cotton fibers were made into goods like linens, and what was left undamaged was used mainly for textiles such as clothing. This radical growth in the cotton industry unintentionally caused an exponential growth of slavery in the American south with a sharp increase in the demand for cotton laborers. The machine itself did indeed radically reduce the labor involved with processing the plant; the immediate effect was a sharp increase for more of it to increase profits to meet the increasing demand for it, along with the land needed to grow it, but it did not assist with the harvest, so more and more slaves were needed for this latter part of the operation. For example; there were six slave states in the year 1790. By 1860 that figure had more than doubled to 15. From 1790 to 1808, the year Congress banned the importation of African slaves; southern slave states had imported over 80,000 slaves and by 1860 about one out of every three Southerners were African. As a direct result of the invention of the cotton gin, it is regarded as the most important, albeit inadvertent, event leading up to the start of the American Civil War, which lasted four years, from 1861 through 1865, and cost at least a half a million American lives (with new estimates reaching three quarters of a million), along with at least a million non-lethal casualties.

This makes it by far the bloodiest conflict in the history of the United States—and it all started with the invention of a simple machine.

8 Bat Bombs

Pennsylvania dentist Lytle S. Adams was on vacation at the famous Carlsbad Caverns when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December, 1941. The caverns being the home of around a million bats Doctor Adams was very impressed with the animals. So, after hearing about the viscous attack on the radio, he was quick to come up with a very devious and quite unique plan of vengeance against the Japanese Empire—The Bat Bomb. In less than a month, on 12 January, 1942 he sent word of his plan to Washington—Incinerate Japanese cities by attaching minute incendiary bombs to tens of thousands of bats and let them loose over the skies of Japan (which were constructed primarily of wood and thatch by the way)! The doctor later recalled excitedly, “Think of thousands of fires breaking out simultaneously over a circle of forty miles in diameter for every bomb dropped! Japan could have been devastated, yet with small loss of life.”

It just so happened that Doctor Adams knew Eleanor Roosevelt so his plan managed to get a high-level audience with the military brass there. The National Research Defense Committee decided to accept his proposal and after some research decided to use the Mexican free-tailed bat and Doctor Adams et al. went to Washington with an unarmed dummy bomb to demonstrate the concept. The extremely complex design became known as “Project X-Ray” and the myriad of problems with the design would soon become evident when a hanger and an Army general’s car were set ablaze and burned. After this the Marines took the project over and soaked two million dollars into it. Soon afterwards, the project was dropped due to advancements with the Manhattan Project and the expected success of the atom bomb. This was quite fortunate for many Mexican free-tailed bats and Japanese civilians alike.

7 Urban Baby Window Cages

Imagine Mom, it’s 1922. It’s a scorching hot and horribly humid summer day in your tiny 30th floor apartment somewhere in Anytown U.S.A. (only 300 feet above the street below). Supper is in the oven so you can’t leave, and the elevators of the day are dangerous at best. It’s just you, your 3-year old son, and your 8-month old daughter who is miserably hot and Dad’s at work. So what to do with Susie? Suddenly you think, ‘I know! I’ll stick her out the window!’( I don’t think so!) Well, that is exactly what some parents used to do before the advent of air conditioning! In the late 19th century a one Doctor Luther Emett wrote a parenting book called, “Mental Floss” that suggested parents should “air out their kids” to “renew and purify their blood.” So what happened? Some brainiac came up with the idea of “airing out kids” in baby cages bolted to the outside of skyscrapers—and some people, parents, actually bought them! I mean what could possibly go wrong? Do I even need to state the obvious myriad of horrific possibilities from bird droppings to hail storms to loosening bolts? Needless to say these horrible contraptions, which were not much more than human chicken coops, neither caught on, nor “hung around”—the pun being totally intended.

6 Hydrogen Blimps

It is bad enough that inventors have always felt the need to burn things just to get them to work, but hydrogen blimps were ridiculous indeed, and are considered as one, if not the most dangerous inventions of all time. Take the rest of our mass transportation systems for example. Everything on land, sea, air, rail, and space uses volatile fuel of some kind, including electric vehicles, but at least they have fuel tanks and fuel cells that are well-protected from damage and thus the engineers have taken the danger of the fuel these vehicles use into account. Yet hydrogen blimps are nothing but glorified balloons with a frame, and to load passengers on them and take to the sky is ludicrous. Yet airships such as the Hindenburg illustrated this in the most horrific manner possible, even though dozens went down in the years before her. They crashed during fueling, they crashed during takeoff, they crashed in flight, they crashed while docking, and were lost in battle, so they literally failed in every aspect of their use. Nazi Germany had an excuse for using hydrogen since the United States wouldn’t sell her helium, which was very expensive so they couldn’t afford it, but what did that say about the “glory” of the fatherland? After 29 years of continuous loss of life and limb one would think that these airlines would have quickly make the switch to the much safer, yet more expensive helium, but as history shows, mankind is a stubborn lot indeed. Obviously blimps, or dirigibles, are still used today but not for mass transit, and all are required by law to use helium for lift.

Simply put, hydrogen-filled airships were an extremely dangerous form of transportation. For example; from 5 August, 1908 through 6 May, 1937 (the fateful day of the Hindenburg disaster) twenty-two airships crashed to the ground and burned. That is an average of 0.75 airships crashing per year for twenty-nine years, and the source list this information was derived from was only a partial list that did not include those airships lost in battles. So it is safe to say that more than one hydrogen airship was crashing to the ground and burning per year during this timeframe. If passenger planes were ever dropping from our skies at this alarming rate the industry simply would not exist today.

What were they thinking?

5 The Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope

In Boston, Massachusetts, Doctor Jacob Lowe demonstrated a shoe-fitting fluoroscope in 1920 at a shoe retailer convention. He did so again in 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He filed for a patent for it in 1919 and had it approved in 1927. The shoe-fitting fluoroscope utilizes X-rays to create moving images of the interior of an object in real-time so it is easy to imagine how fascinating it would be to children who would have such inexpensive and easy access to such technology—which would be fine if it wasn’t deadly. The selling point for this technology was nervous parents worrying about the damage caused by their kids wearing ill-fitting shoes. The problem was, not only was these machines ineffective at fitting shoes, but during a 20-second viewing the American-made machines delivered about 13 roentgens (0.13 sievert (Sv), and although British Pedoscopes were around 10 times less powerful they were still dangerous. Even though the radiation was directed towards the feet, much of it would scatter, radiating everyone around the machine. Sales persons are believed to receive up to a years’ worth of radiation exposure in just 2 hours! In addition to the little girl mentioned above there have been reports of other injuries such as dermatitis with ulcerations, burns requiring amputation, and basal cell carcinoma, with many more likely as late as 2004, and an untold number associated with these devices. These infernal machines were finally banned in 1970. For many, it was too little, too late.

4 The Brazen Bull

There was a beautiful bronze statue cast in ancient Greece that is said to have beheld a horrific and dark truth—a foreboding and murderous truth—it was the final truth that death always brings. It was the Brazen Bull invented by Perillos of Athens between 570 and 554 BC. The statue was commissioned during the reign of Phalaris, the evil tyrant of Acragas, in Sicily, who was notorious for such atrocities as eating newborn babies, as an exceptionally cruel torture device. The bull was cast hollow, and used with a fire built below. It was designed so it could be opened and a person placed inside, a fire started underneath, and as the person started to burn the smoke and steam would escape through the bull’s nose. Incense was placed inside to counteract the smell of burnt flesh. It is said that there was a series of tubes built into the statue designed to distort the screams of the victim making them sound like the animal it depicted. After the victim had burned away, the bones would be collected for bracelets that Phalaris would wear. When Phalaris wanted to test the sound system, he pushed Perillos into the very device he created and lit a fire, but released him before he died, only to kill him by heaving him down a steep incline. Ironically, Phalaris died by his own commissioned torture device when his reign ended after the city was taken by Telemachus in 554 BC and he was cooked in his own Brazen Bull. Talk about Karma.

3 The Tricho System

Marketed as an award-winning innovation, the “award” the Tricho System won was a “grand prize” and was sold by a man named Max Kaiser, a Londoner, who began selling the machines in 1914 to anyone with four-hundred dollars to spend. Making arrangements at one of the “International Exhibitions” of the time Kaiser more or less “guaranteed” the exhibit would win either a “gold medal” or a “grand prize.” In fact, quite dubiously, the manufacturer didn’t have to pay a fee to Kaiser until after this medal or prize was first awarded. The Tricho System won its prize on 19 October, 1925, at the Paris Exposition Generale Commercial. By the end of 1925 over 75 Tricho Systems were installed in beauty salons across the United States including Duluth and Minneapolis. These devices utilized direct X-ray beams to focus on the woman’s cheeks and upper lips to permanently remove unwanted hair. Most women would go through an average of twenty treatments apiece. Either small doses repeated over longer periods of time, or a single large dose could cause serious damage to facial tissue that wasn’t noticed at first, but would come back to haunt them as ailments such as keratoses, pigmentation, ulcerations, wrinkling atrophy, carcinoma, and even death started to occur. Over time the AMA collected dozens of case studies and alerted its members to the issue, and reports of injuries to women treated by Tricho System treatments appeared in medical literature well into the 1940’s.

Here is yet another case of man’s ignorance to the dangers of radiation. But again, along with other toxic substances such as radiation, hydrogen, and lead, it never ceases to amaze this writer how long things such as this persist before they are taken off the market. Take lead for instance—there are scholars who think the use of lead plumbing and pewter utensils in the Roman Empire may have facilitated their demise, yet the United States didn’t ban the use of lead-based paint, or leaded gasoline until 1978, and the fluoroscope mentioned above wasn’t banned until 1970. A more modern example is Teflon, which was banned from domestic production in 2014, yet it still can be imported as of this writing. When will we ever learn?

2 Agent Orange

Originally developed to simply enhance the growth of soy beans, Agent Orange (consisting of about equal amounts of dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, with small, variable proportions of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) was weaponized and used extensively during the Vietnam War. Used in large quantities it was a powerful herbicide used by the United States to deforest the jungle and destroy Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army crops. Under the codename Operation Ranch Hand, the United States military sprayed upwards of twenty millions gallons of herbicides over Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia from 1961 through 1971, covering over 4.5 million acres. Containing the carcinogen dioxin, Agent Orange was the most used of these herbicides (13 of the 20 million total). Agent Orange was proven afterwards to cause very serious health problems for both the Vietnamese people and returning United States military personnel and their families. Among these were rashes, birth defects, severe neurological problems, psychological problems, and cancer. Notwithstanding are the immense environmental damage this military action has caused to the nation of Vietnam since that country has since reported that 400,000 of their people were maimed or killed by the abuse of these herbicides, and that 500,000 of their children have been born with birth defects caused by being exposed to Agent Orange. They also claim that as many as 2,000,000 of their citizenry have contracted cancer or some other form of illness due to the use of these dangerous chemicals in their country.

1 The Radium Girls

“Look Honey! A watch that glows in the dark!” This excited comment was undoubtedly repeated many times over and over a century ago, when excited shoppers first laid their eyes on watches and clocks with hands and dials that “magically” glowed brightly in the dark of night. But little did they know that this was a deadly and highly toxic “magic,” with horrifying consequences for the women making the magic happen. In 1916 the first plant to make these “magical” devices magic opened up in New Jersey and hired around 70 women. They would be the first in a wave of thousands to gain employment in similar plants across the United States in a good-paying, seemingly glamorous vocation.

The task of applying the very special glow-in-the-dark paint to the minute dials faces was both painstaking and very delicate, requiring a good eye, and plenty of manual dexterity, so the girls were instructed to wet their brushes with their lips to give them a good, sharp point. Therein was their downfall. The paint glowed so efficiently because it contained a not fully understood new element discovered only 20 years before called radium, and radium is highly radioactive. As it turned out the girls were swallowing it on a daily basis. In spite of this radium quickly turned into the craze of the day, ending up in everything from cosmetics and toothpaste to soft drinks and food items. The problem is, when one ingests radium the body mistakes it for calcium and incorporates it directly into bone tissue quickly causing radiation-induced bone necrosis and bone cancers.

One of the saddest aspects of this story is that the so-called “Radium Girls” didn’t rush into this blindly. They asked their employers whether or not the paint was harmful or not and were ensured that it wasn’t. In short, they were lied to, whether intentionally or by ignorance, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is what happened to many of these poor girls. The most insidious part of this is that it took years for the symptoms to show up making it hard to prove the cause of their problems, especially since radium gives the illusion of good health when ingested by stimulating red blood cells, when in reality you’re being slowly poisoned. At the time, radium was the most expensive substance on the planet costing a whopping 2.2 million dollars per gram in today’s money! Adding to the mystique of the job the Radium Girls were listed in their local phone directories as “artists” prompting them to get friends and family to seek employment with them.

Another sinister aspect to this whole thing, was that the radioactive dust created in the plant shimmered so brightly, that the girls would wear their finest dresses to work so they could be seen afterwards at their favorite speakeasies being the shiniest ones on the dance floor. Early in the 1920’s though, some of the Radium Girls began suffering from symptoms such as severe toothaches and fatigue, with the first known death happening in 1922 when Mollie Maggia died at only 22 after a year of pain. Even though her death certificate wrongly stated that she died of syphilis she was really suffering from what was called “radium jaw,” a condition that caused her entire lower jawbone ending up being so soft and brittle that her doctor simply lifted it off of her face! The radium was doing nothing less than drilling holes in her jawbone while she was still alive!

Fortunately, the Radium Girls did not suffer in vain. Their cause eventually changed labor laws for the better in the United States for all factory workers. As they should have.

10 Bizarre Inventions From The Victorian Era

Although the approaches vary, most invisibility technology techniques bend light around objects so that the objects can no longer be seen. The technology isn’t exactly new, but it is in more or less constant flux, with the latest innovations in material design and application occurring relatively frequently. Nevertheless, serious challenges remain, and much of the work presently underway concerns finding solutions to the technology’s current limitations. This list reveals ten of the incredible innovations in invisibility technology.

Related: 10 Cutting-Edge Uses Of Laser Technology

10 Rochester University Cloak

Joseph Choi’s Rochester Cloak doesn’t render objects completely invisible, but it does have a couple of advantages over more sophisticated devices. First, it’s less expensive and more practical. The Rochester cloak uses four standard achromatic lenses with two different focal lengths, all of which can be bought at a typical optics store.

Together, the lenses narrow a beam of light between one lens and the next before the beam widens again, filling the following lens. As a result, a doughnut shape is created around the tightest focal point. Any object or objects occupying the space around the lens’s center point become invisible. A video demonstrating the Rochester cloak in action is quite impressive, indeed.^[1]

9 Invisibility Shield

Most invisibility devices are pricey, but thanks to a Kickstarter campaign in April 2022, the Invisibility Shield set buyers back only about $65 for a small size (12.2 x 8.3 inches or 31 x 21 centimeters). The full-size shield, measuring 37.4 x 25.6 inches (95 x 65 centimeters), costs $389. Unfortunately, the shields will have almost certainly sold out by now. However, as the campaign demonstrated, invisibility devices need not be only for the wealthy few; the shield, if mass-produced, should be well within most people’s means.

The device, manufactured by Invisibility Shield Company, diffuses light with a set of upright] lenses, so observers see a reflection of objects to their left and right rather than what’s directly in front of them. The effect can be a bit patchy looking, though. According to the company, it’s best to use the shield in an area with a “uniform background, such as foliage, sand, the sky, or asphalt,” so that the shield’s view matches the surrounding area.^[2]

8 Nanoscale Cloak

Inspired by both her love of Harry Potter and fencing, a sport in which slashing and poking one’s opponent is possible, Northwestern student Julia Abelsky, who majored in both math and statistics, developed her nanoscale invisibility cloak. According to a Campus Life article concerning the inventor, Abelsky’s cloak is made of “a diblock copolymer that mimics the unusual refractive properties of the mineral calcite.”

Abelsky uses an analogy to explain how her device cloaks objects. She mimicked the way that water flows around a boulder in a river by directing a stream of light particles around objects. Since the diverted particles no longer strike the object, they cannot bounce back or refract from the object and hit our eyes. As a result, we do not see the object; it becomes invisible to us.

Invisibility has multiple practical applications, not only for the military but also for radar, deep-sea sensors, super lenses, and, possibly, the development of “high-powered glasses” that would enable people who are currently considered too blind to see.^[3]

7 Bare-Bones Invisibility Demonstration

Kelli Kinzig, the manager of Education Experiences at Marvel’s Universe of Super Heroes exhibit at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio, talked to a local news station’s meteorologist through COSI’s demonstration of invisibility. The equipment was commonplace and inexpensive: vegetable oil, a pair of tongs, protective gloves, two glass beakers, and a small glass flask, with the last two items being transparent.

Kinzig explained that objects are visible due to light’s reflection (bouncing back from an object to the eye) and refraction (bending away from an object). By immersing the small flask in a beaker of vegetable oil, she rendered the beaker invisible, except for its markings indicating volume levels. Next, she set the smaller beaker full of vegetable oil into a larger one filled with the same substance, and the smaller beaker also vanished, except for its markings.

Kinzig explained that the combined abilities of the beakers and the vegetable oil to refract light eliminated “the refraction and the reflection” and made the object inside the beakers seem to disappear.” The markings on the flask and the smaller beaker, remaining visible, made it clear to viewers that the glassware itself had disappeared—or seemed to have done so.

Although the demonstration was low-tech, it did employ an invisibility cloak of sorts. It exemplified the principles by which much more sophisticated invisibility cloaks function, helping young visitors to the exhibit grasp the science of invisibility.^[4]

6 Quantum Stealth Cloak

Canada’s Hyperstealth Biotechnology is going beyond camouflage as a means of concealing soldiers on the battlefield. Now, the company is making not only troops but also tanks, aircraft, and ships invisible using a patented “Quantum Stealth” material.

Like most other stealth technology techniques, this process works by bending light around objects, but with the advantage that it needs no power source and is both paper-thin and inexpensive. A broadband invisibility cloak works as effectively with “ultraviolet, infrared, or shortwave infrared light.” A video demonstrates the product’s effectiveness.^[5]

5 Thinner Invisibility Cloak

When it comes to invisibility, the thinner the cloak, the better. Nia Brown’s article on a cloak made of metamaterials explains why. Such engineered materials are designed to distort perception but can also “interact with various types of electromagnetic radiation in a way that natural materials cannot.” Since thicker materials are bulkier than the objects they are intended to conceal and less reflective than thinner ones, the object to be hidden appears darker than its surroundings, which actually emphasizes the object’s presence.

The “single layer sheet of Teflon-containing ceramics” developed by electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego (USCD) makes whatever it covers look completely flat and eliminates the stark contrast in intensity between the covered object and its surroundings, thereby controlling light reflection.

As Boubacar Kanté, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering, puts it, “Using this technology, we can do more than make things invisible. We can change the way light waves are being reflected at will.” In the future, such technology will probably allow objects to be rendered completely invisible. Energy and optical communications industries are apt to find such cutting-edge technology indispensable.^[6]

4 Invisible Carpet Cloak

Research concerning invisibility has become international in scope. In Singapore, researchers have successfully hidden a cat and a goldfish in broad daylight. How? A glass wall plays tricks with light, directing illumination away from objects to be hidden. Behind the illusion is what its inventor, Zhang Baile, assistant professor for physics at Nanyang Technological University, refers to as an “invisible carpet cloak” using light-bending Calcite crystals.

Baile’s cloak requires no special conditions. It works well in both air and water and can be used on a large scale. The invisible walls do have limitations, though. The cloak’s ability to make things invisible works “from only six directions” and is bulky and hard to move around. However, the device has potential applications in both thermal management and photon circuits. Baile says he remains committed to furthering innovative invisibility research, and Singapore, the Silicon Valley of Asia, is investing millions in such work.^[7]

3 Active Camouflage Invisibility

In the past, camouflage has been a passive undertaking involving the wearing of uniforms designed to blend with terrain features or draping large objects, such as tanks, in similar material. Now, active camouflage material exists that could conceal personnel and equipment from infrared or visual detection. However, to date, only a few experiments have succeeded in effectively cloaking “objects from precise wavelengths and certain vantage points.”

Active camouflage promises better results. Mimicking the way that such animals as squid and chameleons alter their appearance to match their surroundings, the objects to be hidden seem to change their appearance to match their surroundings. In reality, screens show observers photographs of objects or scenery on the other side of the object. Instead of seeing the object, the viewer sees what the screen displays in its place.

In principle, this technique is effective, but there are a lot of bugs to be worked out. These include too many cameras are needed to capture the 360-degree view required to camouflage an object. Also, the quality of the images obtained can be degraded by resolution limitations and lens distortions. The equipment is heavy and requires a lot of power, and lag time between image transmissions from cameras to screens “can also spoil the effect when the object or its surroundings [is] moving.” Possibly, additional research, new developments in photography and transmission, and lighter equipment can remedy these challenges.^[8]

2 Time Cloak

Most invisibility cloaks work best on stationary objects or objects that exercise limited movement. Not so Cornell University’s time cloak. Imagine that a sequence of action lasting a split second has been inserted into a movie. In watching the film, viewers do not see the inserted material; it’s as though the action sequence is invisible to them.

Researchers at Cornell University did something similar, except that, instead of an action sequence, they used fiber optics to split a beam of light in two. One moves faster, the other slower so that neither of them is visible in the “time lens” created by other beams traveling through the cable. Instead of bending light around an object, as other invisibility cloaks do, the time cloak masks an event in time.

Their work is based on the idea of Martin McCall, a professor of theoretical optics at Imperial College in London, that an event could be hidden in time. City College of New York physicist Michio Kaku, who specializes in the physics of science fiction, said his Cornell colleagues’ science is legitimate. Still, the length of time the object is masked by time is so infinitesimally minute that there’s a long way to go before we have true invisibility, as seen in science fiction. Practical matters also impede development. For example, a machine about 18,600 miles (29,993 kilometers) long would be needed to “make the cloak last a full second,” And this is still not nearly long enough to make an object’s invisibility practical as a means of camouflage.

Still, the technology could have another practical use, although such an application might be something of a double-edged sword. Alexander Gaeta, director of Cornell’s School of Applied and Engineering Physics, and Moti Fridman, a physics researcher at Cornell, agreed that such technology could be used to add “a packet of information to high-speed data unseen without interrupting the flow of information.” But, as Fridman pointed out, such a process might also subject the data to computer viruses.^[9]

1 Metamaterial Devices

Not only large objects, such as glass walls and vast systems of cameras and screens, can bend light. Microscopic devices use metamaterials, specially structured materials with surfaces dotted with holes smaller than the width of visible light waves. These materials are also capable of smoothly shuttling “light rays around them.” Metamaterials can produce seemingly magical effects, agrees physicist Ulf Leonhardt of Scotland’s University of St. Andrew.

Tests of a prototypical woven fishnet of silver nanowires, each one about 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, were found to bend “red light from all angles hundreds of times more effectively” than in past attempts. A second such device, relying on 21 stacked grids of silver and magnesium fluoride of similarly small sizes, bent infrared light.

These findings indicate promising applications of this light-bending technology, which not only could produce invisibility effects but could also improve camera function by “shielding lenses from unwanted light frequencies” and enhance cellphone and radio communications by making antennas invisible to noisy electromagnetic waves. The only challenge? Mass-producing the materials on a large scale.^[10]

The Golden Age of Islam refers to a nearly six-centuries-long period of renaissance in the Islamic world, beginning with the foundation of the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth century and ending with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258. It was a time of unprecedented developments in the fields of geometry, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, arts, algebra, and many others, as scholars from across the known world came to Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and other major Islamic cities to practice and hone their crafts.

10. Automatons

Automatons were early designs in robotics and programmable machines, going as far back as ancient Egypt. While European thinkers – especially from the Italian Renaissance era – are usually credited with the development of complex automatons, it was Arabic scientists that first pioneered them. Perhaps the most influential of them was Ismail al-Jazari, also sometimes called the ‘father of medieval robotics’.

Born in 1136 in modern-day Turkey, Al-Jazari’s inventions included complex works of mechanical engineering that could operate all on their own, like an automated peacock, a water-run clock, automatic soap and wine dispensers, and advanced water cranks and pumps to supply water to farmers. His 1206 treatise on automata, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, influenced scientists and engineers in the Arabic world and beyond for centuries, including Leonardo da Vinci.

9. Automatic Musical Instruments

The Banu Musa were three polymaths living in Baghdad during the ninth century. While each of them specialized in a field of their own, their contributions are still remembered collectively. They were perhaps one of the first few Arabic scientists to build upon the Greek school of mathematics, establishing their own methods for solving classic mathematical and geometrical problems. 

The Banu Musa were also adept at designing automatic mechanical devices, and are credited with the creation of some of the first programmable music devices. Precursors to modern-day music-making machines like sequencers, synthesizers, drum machines, and others, these structures were automatically able to generate a diverse range of melodies – an unprecedented innovation for that time. Their automatic flute player – a humanoid automaton that could play a variety of tunes on the flute – was easily the first programmable machine in history. 

8. Damascus Steel

Damascus steel was a form of steel used in many places throughout medieval times. While it had its origins in a kind of steel from ancient India called wootz steel, it was on the streets of Damascus, Syria that the material really took off. Apart from a unique, dark look that can’t be replicated, the steel was famed for its strength and flexibility, making it especially useful for melee weapons like swords and knives.

Damascus steel was widely used by Islamic armies throughout the Golden Age of Islam, though it also had uses in ornaments and other crafts. Sadly, the formula to produce it has been lost to history, even if we can make other, far-better types of steel and other metals with the technology available today. 

7. Optics

Optics is the study of light, pioneered by such scientists as Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton during the European Renaissance. Much of their work, however, was built on the discoveries made much earlier. While the study of optics goes as far back as Greek times, it was during the Abbasid era that thinkers really understood the true nature of light. 

Hasan Ibn al-Haytham – one of the most prominent light specialists of the Islamic era – was the first to disprove the Ancient Greek notion that light originates inside the eye. His book, the simply-named Book of Optics, remains an important work in the field of optics, influencing thinkers across the European world and beyond in the coming centuries. 

6. Drug Trials

Clinical trials are now an irreplaceable part of drug testing and approval, though that wasn’t always the case. The idea of testing medicines in controlled experiments before they’re administered to the general public is a relatively-recent development in human history. It could be singularly traced back to Ibn Sina – a 10th century Iranian polymath who first introduced logic and experimentation to the process of drug testing, among a bunch of other medical innovations.

His book – the Canon of Medicine – was so influential that it was taught across Arabic and European schools of medicine until at least the 17th century. Apart from his insights on drugs and clinical trials, Ibn Sina also made seminal contributions to surgery and the development of a wide variety of surgical tools. Sina’s logic-based method influenced many Arabic doctors and scientists in the following years, and his works like Canon provided the basis for what would be one of the greatest ages for the medical sciences in history. 

5. Glass

While glass had existed for thousands of years before the Islamic golden age, it wasn’t until the first glass factories were set up in Syria during the eighth century that glassmaking really turned into a craft of its own. The first clear, colorless varieties of glass showed up in the Arabic world, thanks to innovations and discoveries by prominent thinkers like Abbas Ibn Firnas – the first inventor to come up with a method to produce clear glass from sand. 

Around the same time, another Arabic chemist, Jabir Ibn Hayyan, was working on colored and stained glass. His treatise, The Book of the Hidden Pearl, provided the first known recipes for artificial pearls and other precious stones, along with methods to cut high quality glass into gemstones. Thanks to these advancements in the Arabic world, the first glass factories showed up in Greece by the 11th century.

4. Surgery

The Abbasid era saw many pioneering developments in the science of surgery, thanks to parallel discoveries in other areas of medicine that advanced our overall understanding of the human body. Islamic physicians would study the works of surgeons from earlier eras – especially Ancient Greece – and come up with their own techniques and tools for the procedures. 

While many thinkers, physicians, engineers, and other smart people contributed to this revolution, the most prominent name was that of Abu al Qasim al-Zahrawi, also known as the ‘father of operative surgery’. Born in 936 near Cordoba in Spain, al-Zahrawi pioneered many surgical techniques used by surgeons around the world for centuries to come. His book, al-Tasreef, or the ‘Method of Medicine’, was used as a medical encyclopedia around the world until the 18th century, as it described over 200 surgical instruments and 300 diseases and their treatments. Many of al-Zahrawi’s techniques remained unchanged until the development of modern surgery. 

3. Algebra

Algebra is a broad field of mathematics that deals with symbols of varying values – like x,y, z etc. – and operators like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and others to represent mathematical problems. While equations and variables have been studied in some form by mathematicians in ancient Egypt, Greece, and India, it was only during the Islamic golden age that all that knowledge was compiled in one place, giving birth to modern algebra. 

In fact, the term ‘algebra’ derives directly from the Kitab al-Jabr – a monumental treatise on elementary algebra written by a Persian mathematician called al-Khwarizmi. Apart from providing a new way of solving linear and quadratic equations with abstract variables, he was the first mathematician to work with ancient Indian numerals, modifying and perfecting them into the ten-digit number system we all use today. 

2. Hospitals

While facilities for medical care existed in various forms before the Abbasid era, the modern hospital only showed up in Baghdad during the ninth century. Built in 805 by the vizier to caliph Harun al-Rashid, it was the first documented facility that provided a center for medical care, a place for the sick to rest, a home to take care of the elderly, and a teaching center for aspiring physicians. 

Between the ninth and 10th centuries, many other Islamic hospitals were founded in Baghdad, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, Mecca and Medina, Spain, and other major regions across the empire. Known as bimaristans, some of them were quite advanced for their time and closely resembled the modern hospital. In Cairo, a hospital founded by the Abbasid governor became the first facility to offer care for the mentally ill. 

1. Paper

Islamic armies first came across paper during the various invasions of Central Asia in the eighth century. Invented in China some time in the first century AD, the material was far superior to anything used in the Arab world before it, including previous rudimentary mediums of writing like papyrus or parchment. Paper could be mass produced with freely-available waste fibers and retained ink for long periods of time, making it an ideal material to fuel the oncoming golden age. 

The permanent nature of the writing made paper immensely useful for imperial and bureaucratic purposes, as it was impervious to forgery or alteration of any kind. By the 10th century, paper mills had sprung up across the Islamic empire – from Persia to Syria to Spain – allowing scientists and thinkers to widely publish and disseminate their ideas across the empire and beyond. Paper was why Islamic libraries usually contained hundreds of thousands of volumes of knowledge, compared to the relatively-modest collections of major empires before it.

In movies, war is often depicted in a very straightforward and well-regimented way, at least in terms of how it’s planned and implemented. Things get terrifying and intense on the field of battle, but behind the scenes it seems like there’s a well oiled machine driving the force. 

In reality, war is remarkably unpredictable, and nothing is set in stone. Being craftier than your enemy means thinking outside the box a lot, and that has led to some incredible and nearly unbelievable innovations, like these ones from the Second World War.

10. Kaiten-Class Suicide Torpedoes 

The first successful torpedo test dates back to 1866 and ever since, torpedoes have been a staple of naval warfare. They have grown smarter and more powerful over the years as technology has evolved but the basic idea of an underwater missile is still pretty much the same. 

During WWII, the Japanese developed the Kaiten-Class torpedo, which was decidedly different from a typical torpedo in one very significant one – they were manually guided. 

Essentially a very small submarine that was piloted by one person, they meant death for that pilot because, well, obviously. The poor sailor was stuck inside a torpedo. Like the more famous kamikaze pilots who sacrificed their lives in the skies, kaiten torpedo pilots would be sealed in the tube and then, as they approached a target, would surface to make adjustments in direction as needed.

They could arm their warheads and make a pass at an enemy vessel. If successful, the pilot blew himself up with the enemy. If not, they could make a second attempt. If that run also failed, they could initiate a self destruct that would kill them as well. Early prototypes had an escape option, but later versions did not. Death was the only outcome. 

9. Retteungsbojen Rescue Buoys

We’ve all probably seen a WWII film featuring a dogfight in which a plane gets shot down and then, moments later, a parachute opens and the pilot slowly drifts to the ground. In most films, the action continues and we rarely follow up on what happened there. But in real life, if that pilot was shot down over the water, they might have had a shot at finding a Retteungsboje buoy.

Part of the German war effort, the Retteungsbojen were emergency rescue buoys located on the English Channel. If a German pilot was shot down and survived, they could try to make their way to one of the 50 or so buoys that the Luftwaffe had anchored there.

Essentially a life raft anchored in the Channel, pilots could enter the buoy and find a small living space of about 43 square feet inside complete with food, water, blankets and dry clothes. There were even games and a cooking area. There was room for four men per buoy, and a radio transmitter would allow for them to call in a rescue.  

The English had similar rescue buoys that offered similar amenities to Allies awaiting rescue. 

8. Colorblind Camo Spotters

Natural camouflage has probably existed for as long as hunting has. Animals use it, after all, and humans likely learned that hiding was more advantageous than standing out in the open sometimes. But military camo only dates back to 1914, meaning that by the time WWII came around it was widespread but still fairly unique to most people who were participating in the war. Finding a way to overcome it required some innovative thinking. 

People who are colorblind, as it happens, are remarkably adept at spotting camouflage. Because they were more inclined to focus on outlines and patterns that distinguish between things rather than color, they were used during the war to help spot German positions from spy planes. It’s even been speculated that color blindness isn’t necessarily a failing but an evolutionary advantage for hunters from a time when needing to be able to spot both predators and prey out in the world was a key to survival. 

7. Earthquake Bombs 

Every bomb is meant to cause some kind of damage and the bigger they are, the more destructive they tend to be. The Tallboy was meant to be the most destructive bomb in the British arsenal and not for what it did above ground, rather below. It was designed to be an earthquake bomb, a weapon that would literally trigger an earthquake and destroy everything around it. 

Initial plans required the bomb to weigh 20,000 pounds, which was heavier than any other bomb and no plane could even carry it. It would also need to be dropped from 40,000 feet which, again, no plane could do. The designer tweaked his methods and came back with a slightly more reasonable 12,000-pound bomb that needed to be dropped from 18,000 feet.

The bombs were used to destroy underground targets like railway tunnels, submarine pens, and weapons manufacturing plants. The British dropped 854 of them during the war including one that was discovered in 2020 which exploded as it was being lifted out of the Baltic Sea in Poland where it had been dropped on a German ship during a 1945 raid. 

6. Black Widow Silk

If you had to think of a way to make war more terrifying, what would you include? If you suggested spiders, maybe the infamous black widow spider, you’re in luck. They actually made a significant contribution to WWII that most of us never read about in history.

Even if you’ve never used a gun, you have no doubt seen the crosshairs of a gun sight in pictures or movies. And while it may look like the cross hairs are just lines drawn on a scope, they are not. Those gun sights were made with black widow spider silk cross hairs.

Back in 1943, a number of spiders were employed by the US military and were producing up to 180 feet of thread every week that was then used in scope production. They chose the black widow because, despite its dangerous reputation, it’s also a very slow spider and therefore easier to handle. Plus, they’re not nearly as deadly as people think, though you’d still do well to avoid a bite. 

The spider thread was an ideal material because it’s about one-fifth the diameter of a human hair, but extremely strong and hard to break. Its elasticity ensured that stretching it for use in crosshair production worked like a charm. The army actually farmed the job of silk harvesting out and it became a side hustle for some people long before anyone used that term. 

5. Remote Controlled Tanks

Remote control machines of war are something we’re well aware of in the modern world with the proliferation of drones more than anything else. But unmanned machines are not as new as you might think and the Soviets actually had unmanned tanks as far back as the 1930s.

The Soviets were inspired by a French design from 1915 that was a kind of un-piloted tank that could carry a 200 kilograms, or 441-pound payload of explosives to a target. In the early ’30s, the Soviets rolled out their first Teletanks, made from an upgraded T-18 tank that could be radio controlled though it proved to be agonizingly slow with a top speed of under three miles per hour. It could go forward, backward, left and right. But it proved a foundation for later models that could go faster and do more.

In battle, another tank controlled the Teletank from behind. But the remote controlled tank would be very heavily armed and capable of using weapons like flamethrowers, smoke grenades and even deploying time bombs.

4. Aniseed Ball Candy Mine Timers

The concept of a time bomb is pretty simple. You have an explosive charge that is triggered by a timer set to go off after a certain amount of time has passed. The limpet mine was such a device and its construction was the stuff of legend. After all, who needs an electronic timing device when a piece of candy will do?

The idea behind the mines was to make them easily attachable to the hull of an enemy ship by a diver in the water. They needed to go off after a reliable amount of time had passed that would let the diver escape. And it needed to be safe to use in water.

The idea of a spring mounted trigger was developed, and a water soluble pellet would be used to hold the spring back. It turned out that aniseed balls were hard enough to hold the spring but also dissolved like clockwork in just over 30 minutes. 

3. The New Guinea Glider Rescue Mission

Rescue missions are often sensitive and precarious at the best of times. When a plane crashed in New Guinea in 1945, the effort to rescue the survivors had to go to some uncharted places, literally and metaphorically, to get them back.

At that time, most of New Guinea had been unexplored by anyone from the outside. The native population lived a very primitive and isolated existence by Western standards and there was literally no access to the unexplored jungles from outside.

Three survivors made their way to a clearing where rescue planes were able to spot them, but so were the natives. Believing the locals to be cannibals, the crash survivors were in a dangerous spot. Until they met the local tribe leader, smiled at one another and, despite a clear language barrier, became friends.

Paratroopers and a documentary filmmaker parachuted in, all while there was still no way to escape, and it was decided gliders would be the best and only solution to the problem. Planes would drop small gliders that the survivors could strap themselves to and then hook to other planes that were making low passes, pulling them all to safety. And, amazingly, it worked.

2. Jetpacks

Few things signify the future quite as easily as a jetpack. They had been staples of sci fi for years, notably in tales like the Rocketeer and even Iron Man is essentially using jet packs to fly. A personal flight unit that doesn’t require a big machine or wings has an alluring quality to it, of science mastering nature. But it has also proved far more elusive in reality. Managing fuel, propulsion, lift, navigation, there are just a lot of factors that have made jetpacks mostly impractical until very recently. Or so it seemed.

Turns out, Nazis had jetpacks. Or one jetpack, anyway. Known as the Himmelstürmer, it used a pulse jet engine and it was designed to allow Nazi soldiers to get over enemy defenses like mine fields or fences. A soldier could jump a distance of 180 feet at a 50 foot altitude. It was never meant for sustained flight, however.

The device was never put into practical use on the battlefield because the war had ended by that time. 

1. Stench Warfare

Not all weapons are designed to kill and sometimes a non-lethal weapon can clear the enemy even more effectively than a lethal one. That’s part of the thinking behind psychological warfare, using tools to break the enemy’s spirit and, in one case, make them run in a desperate panic to escape the worst smell ever.

In 1943, chemists were enlisted to develop something later dubbed “Who, Me?” It would be a stink so vile that it could clear buildings and make people sick. But ideally it would shatter the morale of the enemy by making them rancid smelling filth mongers, shunned by their non-smelly peers and causing terrible embarrassment. Based on those clues alone it’s fairly clear the point was to make a weapon that would convince people an enemy had lost bowel control and was carrying the stink with them. But the reality was even worse.

The team came up with a compound featuring smells of “vomit, rancid butter, urine, rotten eggs, foot odor, and excrement.” Alas, the war ended before it was ever deployed in the battlefield so we’ll never know how effective it may have been.