There is a small category of materials that are not assembled from anything, and felt is the oldest of them.
Almost every fabric is made of threads. Spinning turns loose…
There is a class of object that has to work with nobody supervising it, in public, permanently, and postboxes are among the clearest examples.
Before they existed, a letter had…
There is a strong temptation to explain organised-looking animal behaviour by assuming somebody is organising it.
An ant trail invites exactly that. A line of insects moving purposefully between a…
There is a common assumption about layered rocks that slate steadily breaks.
The assumption is that a rock which splits into sheets does so along the layers in which it…
Every other preservation method makes food hostile to spoilage organisms. This one removes them entirely and then locks the door. Here are fifteen consequences.
1. The Order Is Seal First,…
Almost every visible feature of a transmission line is a solution to one of two problems: keeping the electricity in the wire, and keeping the wire in the air. Here…