There is a pointed roof on the top of a milk carton, and most people have assumed for their entire lives that it is a spout.
It is not. The…
The paper clip is one of the few objects in daily use that is genuinely anonymous. The shape everybody pictures - the double oval of bent wire - is called…
Anybody over a certain age remembers the ring pull coming away in their hand - a small aluminium ring with a sharp tongue attached, which had to be put somewhere,…
Everybody who has ever assembled furniture has had a cross-head screwdriver ride up and out of the screw, chewing the head on the way. It is one of the most…
Walk through an airport, a cinema or a hotel almost anywhere in the world and the exit is marked by a green panel showing a running figure heading through a…
Stand in front of a bookshelf in an English-speaking country and tilt your head to the right to read the spines. The titles run downward, from the top of the…