The James Webb Space Telescope's mirrors are coated in gold because gold reflects infrared light extremely well. Each mirror segment is covered with just 100 nanometers of gold—thinner than a human hair.
Did you know the reason LED lights are so energy-efficient is that they convert over 90% of their energy into light, whereas traditional incandescent bulbs waste most energy as heat?
Did you know the human eye can distinguish around 10 million different colors, but our brains interpret color relatively rather than absolutely? This is why optical illusions can trick our perception of color.
Did you know trees can communicate with each other through underground networks of fungi? This "Wood Wide Web" helps trees share nutrients and send warning signals about pests or drought conditions.
The first computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964. It was made of wood and had two perpendicular wheels for tracking movement, a far cry from today's optical mice.
The World Wide Web was created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee. It was initially designed to allow researchers to share documents via hyperlinks. The first website, info. cern. ch, is still online.
Machine learning as a concept dates back to 1959 when Arthur Samuel defined it as the ability for computers to learn without being explicitly programmed. Early implementations were in games like checkers.
Linux, the open-source operating system created by Linus Torvalds in 1991, powers over 90% of the world’s supercomputers, as well as most smartphones (via Android).
The first computer game is considered to be "Spacewar!" developed in 1962. It ran on the PDP-1, a minicomputer, and featured two players battling in a simulated space environment.