In the late 1930’s, a massive 55-foot and 75,000 lbs vehicle was built to facilitate Antarctic exploration. While transporting it to Boston, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser drove off a bridge in Ohio and was stuck in a stream for 3 days. It didn’t fair much better in the Antarctic as it was twice abandoned and has been lost since 1958. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Snow_Cruiser
Douglas Engelbart invented the first ever computer mouse in 1964. It was made out of wood and two perpendicular discs. The original mouse had the cord in front, but they quickly moved it to the back to get it out of the way. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/mouse.html
Dutch researchers have created artificial leaves that produce drugs using sunlight. In testing, they successfully produced artimensinin, which is a drug to treat malaria, and ascaridole, used against certain parasitic worms. – WTF Fun Facts
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The first commercially successful videotape recorder, precursor to the VCR, was made in 1956 and was the size of a piano. The Ampex Corporation developed the VRX-1000 in 1956 and sold it to TV networks and stations for $50,000. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videocassette_recorder
A Brazilian doctor used 3d printing to help blind parents feel their baby’s ultrasound. Dr. Werner uses a 3D printer to make lifelike models from images obtained by a GE ultrasound machine. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.ge.com/reports/brazilian-doctor-3d-printing-baby-ultrasound-blind-parents/
Spain’s S-80 submarine program designed subs that were 70 tons too heavy and likely to sink when submerged. The cost to fix it is expected to be ~$9 billion. The problem was traced back to an engineer misplacing a decimal point. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://o.canada.com/news/spain-builds-submarine-70-tons-too-heavy
WD-40 is named as such because it was the 40th formulation that finally worked for the fledgling Rocket Chemical Company. The “WD” simply stands for water displacement. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.wd40company.com/our-company/our-history/
In 2013, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover hummed Happy Birthday to itself by vibrating its sample-analysis unit to the musical tune, but did so only on its first “birthday”. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/why-the-curiosity-rover-stopped-singing-happy-birthday-to-itself/536487/
North Korea has only 8 internet hosts while the Vatican City has 107. USA has the most out of any country with over 500 million. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_hosts
The UK Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines run on a variant of Windows XP dubbed ‘Windows for Submarines’. Its actual name is Submarine Command System New Generation or ‘SMCS NG’. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/no-trident-doesnt-run-windows-xp/
In 2011, an iPhone 4 fell out of a skydiver’s pocket and fell ~13500 ft, landing on top of the building a half mile away. The iPhone was still able to be located via it’s GPS signal as well as receive phone calls. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2011-07-23-iphone-survives-13-500-foot-fall-from-skydivers-pocket.html
The space shuttle flew 135 missions with a flight computer that had less than 1% of the computing power of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.al.com/space-news/2011/07/space_shuttle_fast_facts_xbox.html
A form of lasers called ‘optical tweezers’ uses two beams of light to squeeze and manipulate objects as small as a single atom. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_tweezers
The Omeo is a wheelchair based on Segway technology which allows users to move hands-free at a max speed of 20km per hour. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://omeotechnology.com/theomeo/
At one point in the 1990’s, 50% of all Compact Discs production in the world was dedicated solely to creating AOL install/sign-up discs. They spent over $300 million on discs and acquired a new subscriber every six seconds. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/
On NASA’s Gemini XII flight, the computer docking system failed and Buzz Aldrin (who did his doctoral thesis at MIT on line-of-sight orbital mechanics) successfully calculated the docking trajectory using a sextant and a slide rule. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-xii-crew-masters-the-challenges-of-spacewalks
In 1821, an African American business owner named Thomas Jennings invented the dry cleaning process and was one of the first African Americans to be granted a patent. He used the proceeds from his invention to buy his wife and children out of slavery. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Jennings
In 2014, some 4,000 black taxi cab drivers brought parts of London to a standstill, protesting against Uber. Ironically, this led to an 850% increase in downloads of Uber on the day. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27799938