Being in the business of separating sense from nonsense for several decades, I have across many contemptible scams. One of the most outrageous ones entices people to fork out money for a...
In 1943, the Smith, Kline and French pharmaceutical company added hot pepper extract to Benzedrine, its popular decongestant inhaler. The fiery taste of capsaicin, the compound responsible for the ...
In 1862, over 6 million visitors flocked to the 鈥淕reat London Exposition鈥� where they were astounded by the electric telegraph, watched an early refrigerator make ice, gawked at Charles Babbage鈥檚 ...
These days we are accustomed to pressing the delete key and a word on the screen disappears, ready to be replaced by a few keystrokes. But that doesn't mean pencils and erasers have disappeared. On...
Luminous paints such as those used on watch dials make use of chemicals that can absorb visible light and re-emit it over a protracted period. This phenomenon was first noted in the 1500s when...
