Creative Frontiers
The discoveries, inventions, and startups shaping the future
John Harvey Kellogg Believed Light Could Cure Diabetes
And a whole lot of other diseases
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USPTO The First Bar Code Was Round
The tagging system was invented years before it became practical.
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Akinori Yamada/Flickr The Earliest Crash Test Dummies Were Cadavers
Injuries are the most common cause of death if you're under 44, and about one-fifth are connected to car accidents.
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Ben Watts/Flickr The First Batch of Gatorade Tasted Terrible
So they added lemon.
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Jacques/Flickr The Sound Recorder That Changed Film
Stefan Kudelski set out to explore robotics. He changed the film industry instead.
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Shaheen Lakhan/Flickr The Role of the Supernatural in the Discovery of EEGs
After Hans Berger received an uncanny telegram, he spent years trying to measure psychic energy.
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NASA/ESA The Original Galaxy Quest
Ninety years ago, astronomers weren't sure if the Milky Way was all there was. Now we know we're not alone.
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bertholf/Flickr The Man Who First Juiced
One of the health trend's first advocates was perhaps a little bit of a huckster.
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Matt Wharton/Flickr The Very First Forecast
Robert FitzRoy published his first weather report in 1861. It was largely accurate.
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Internet Archive Book Images/Flickr How WWII Made Rock Climbing Safer
Falling is never a good idea, but it used to be way worse.
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John Campbell/Flickr Cholera Gave a British Doctor the Idea for IVs
Patients need fluid, somehow.
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USGS How Elephant Teeth Taught Scientists Extinction Exists
In 1796, Georges Cuvier convinced his fellow researchers that some bones belonged to a species that no longer roamed the Earth.
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LG/Flickr The Holy Grail of the TV Industry
From the moment the first LCD screen was created, the goal was to create a flat television.
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Emilio Robert Vicol/Flickr Aluminum Was Once One of the Most Expensive Metals in the World
Before two twentysomethings simultaneously figured out how to isolate the element cheaply and efficiently, it was one of the most valuable metals in the world.
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Bettman / Getty The First Plastic Football Helmet Often Broke on Impact
Early headgear was meant to prevent death. Today's versions attempt to prevent concussions, but protecting players who take repeated hits is hard.
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Tim Adamec/Flickr Thank Cyclists, Not Drivers, for Early Road Improvements
Edward N. Hines became passionate about transportation reform as an avid biker—inventing the first center line to divide a street in two.
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Ed Uthman/Flickr The First Pap Smears Were Done on Drunk Guinea Pigs
A Greek doctor found himself unable to experiment on humans when he came to America, so he used animals instead.
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ParentingPatch/Wikimedia What Happens to a Pill After You Pop It?
Patients prefer to swallow drugs in little balls, but their ability to actually deliver drugs has a spotty history.
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Aaron Perecki/Flickr The Plane Crash That Gave Americans GPS
The Reagan administration sped up the implementation of location-finding services for civilian use after the Soviet military shot down a passenger aircraft.
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NIST The History of Digital Imaging Began With a Baby Picture
Could it have been any other way?
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Rob & Dani/Flickr How Sick Chickens and Rice Led Scientists to Vitamin B1
The discovery of thiamine began with the search for a microbe.
