TIME WARP

10 Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think!

Credit: Lorenzo Herrera

In the fast-paced world of technology, it's easy to assume that all our gadgets and gizmos are creations of the digital age. However, some inventions have been around longer than you might think, standing the test of time and continuing to shape our world.

Prepare to be amazed as we unveil 10 technologies that seem to defy the boundaries of time!

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Date invented:c. 250 BCE

Believe it or not, the ancient Parthians might have been the first to experiment with primitive batteries, over 2,000 years ago. A set of artifacts known as the Baghdad Battery, consisting of a ceramic vessel, a tube of copper, and an iron rod, have led scientists to speculate that the three items could potentially be an early galvanic cell, likely used for electroplating or similar purposes.

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Date invented:1843

A staple of offices and workspaces everywhere, only recently replaced by cheaper and more efficient systems, the fax machine actually predates most modern office equipment by over a century. Scottish inventor Alexander Bain patented the first fax machine in 1843, allowing images and handwritten messages to be transmitted over telegraph lines.

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Date invented: c. 1832

While we might have been told that electric cars are the future - and they might be! - they are certainly nothing new! The concept has a long history, dating back to the 19th century. Designs for electric motors were proposed by numerous inventors of the time, including Benjamin Franklin. In the 1830s, a Scottish inventor named Robert Anderson created one of the earliest electric carriages, powered by a set of non-rechargeable batteries.

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Date invented:1965

Before smartphones made touchscreens ubiquitous, they were a futuristic concept straight out of science fiction. However, the first finger-driven touchscreen was developed in 1965 by Eric Johnson, an engineer at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern, England, paving the way for modern touchscreen technology.

Credit: Bram Van Oost

Date invented:c. 1980s

The idea of cars that can drive themselves may seem like a recent innovation, but researchers have been experimenting with autonomous vehicle technology since at least the 1980s. Among these first attempts, Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab project, initiated in 1984, was one of the earliest efforts to develop autonomous cars. One of the vehicles produced under the Navlab project even managed to steer itself almost all the way from Pittsburgh to San Diego.

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Date invented:1945

Although strictly speaking even a humble abacus could count as a computer, modern computers - capable of performing complex tasks and calculations through electric circuits - are still fairly old, being conceived during the first half of the twentieth century. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), completed in 1945, is often considered the world's first electronic general-purpose computer, marking the dawn of the digital age.

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Date invented: 5000 BCE

Did you know that central heating is almost as old as agriculture? Heating systems using underground pipes or hot air vents were found at numerous Neolithic archaeological sites. In the city of Rason (present-day North Korea), an ancient heating system called ondol was found in 5000-year-old dwellings. Later on, the Ancient Romans also pioneered central heating systems with the hypocaust, a form of underfloor heating that was extensively used in Roman baths and villas, providing luxurious warmth even in the coldest months.

Credit: Victoriano Izquierdo

Date invented: c. 1st century CE

I know it sounds hard to believe, but the world's first vending machine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century CE. The machine could dispense either holy water or wine in exchange for coins. A complex lever system allowed the mechanism to be fairly similar to what we are accustomed to today. Talk about an ancient form of convenience shopping!

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Date invented:Early 20th century

The resurgence of 3D movies in recent years may feel like a modern trend, but the concept has been around for over a century. The first 3D film, "The Power of Love," was released in 1922, and it used red-green anaglyph glasses to create the illusion of depth on the silver screen.

Credit: Patrick Hendry

Date invented: c. 213 BCE

Heat rays might sound like a weapon from a sci-fi movie, but they have roots in ancient times. The first one to come up with a device that could concentrate thermal energy in a distant point was no one other than the famous Greek inventor Archimedes. His heat ray device is said to have been used to burn attacking Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse (c. 213–212 BC). Although the exact system he devised was lost to time, modern reconstructions speculate that it must have utilized a set of mirrors or reflecting surfaces to cause fires aboard the attacking ships.

READY, SET, SAIL!

Rock The Boat With These 10 Everyday Expressions Of Nautical Origin

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Languages in general are perpetually evolving entities, and English is no exception. Ever-changing, over the years the English language has adopted words and phrases from other languages and even completely invented slang.

Many idioms, sayings, and figures of speech like "batten down the hatches" or "hunky-dory" that we still use in the 21st century, actually have a nautical origin, from the golden days of sailing. You may already be using many of them in your everyday conversations, not knowing the true meaning behind them. That's why we've put together a list of ten naval sayings and sailing phrases to let you know the history behind them. So hoist the mainsail and set course for discovery!

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There’s little chance you’ve never used this expression, by a long shot. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a long shot means "a venture involving great risk but promising a great reward if successful". It is an idiom we also use regularly to express "by a great deal".

Its origin can be traced back to early naval guns from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, whose accuracy left a lot to be desired. Apparently, these weapons were effective only at close range and weren’t very good for targets placed at great distances. So if a long shot managed to hit its target, it was considered out of the ordinary and something to celebrate.

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The literal meaning of this expression is "to fasten the entrances to the lower part of a ship using wooden boards". However, in our everyday conversations, we use it when we want to prepare ourselves or others for a difficult or dangerous situation.

The term batten was originated in the 18th century. It refers to an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship when bad weather was expected. **The earliest record of the expression "**batten down the hatches" was found on Vocabulaire des Termes de Marine, a French-English dictionary of sailing terms published in 1799. The first example of a colloquial use of the phrase, similar to the one we have now, appears as recently as 1955, in an article published in the Bulletin of the General Contractors Association of New York.

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Name one TV crime series where the phrase "all hands on deck" has never been used. There probably isn’t a single one! Today we use this figure of speech in an informal way to call for everyone available to get involved in a group task or an urgent situation. However, a long time ago it had a more straightforward meaning. In times of pirates, captains would urge their crew to help whenever a storm was coming or if enemies were attacking the ship. It literally meant "All available sailors come to the deck". Over the years, as the English language evolved, it just became the expression we use when we need as much help as we can get.

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We all have at least one family member or friend who is uncontrollable and unpredictable. In our everyday vocabulary, we usually call this type of person a "loose cannon", although perhaps we’ve never stopped to think about what it really means or where it comes from.

The origin of this metaphoric expression can be sourced from the cannons that used to be mounted on the decks of warships in the early 1900s. During combat or a storm, these big and heavy weapons sometimes got dislodged, causing serious damage to the vessel and its crew. We can say that something similar happens when people with erratic behavior are around.

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The origin of this cute little slang phrase meaning "quite satisfactory, fine" is a bit obscure. There are a few theories that explain where "hunky-dory" was first coined, but our favorite has nautical connotations. Legend has it, the expression comes from "Honcho dori", a term that means something like "main street" in Japanese, where lonely American sailors allegedly went for all sorts of diversions and services in the 1860s.

This Japanese influence was first suggested by American historian and linguist John Russell Bartlett in the 4th edition of the Dictionary of Americanisms of 1877. His theory, although picturesque and with some historical merit, can’t be 100% proven. But for the moment let’s just say: it’s all hunky-dory!

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Yes, the word ship has given us away. As you can imagine, this commonly used expression has a clear naval origin. The term can be traced back to when ships were made out of wood and needed to be properly sealed to prevent any leaks. Captains used to supervise this operation and apparently were very rigorous about it.

In its more metaphorical sense, it alludes to a ship in which the ropes are taut, meaning it is strictly managed. In a tight ship the crew and officers work well together, that is to say, the phrase has a very similar meaning to the one we give it today. In informal and colloquial situations we now use it to refer to an institution or business that is highly organized and running efficiently.

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Once upon a time, when battles were fought in faraway seas, ships would heave their national flag before a battle. However, some captains were known to be swindlers. To have an advantage over their enemies, they would carry flags of other countries in order to confuse them on the high seas. This practice was especially common in the 17th century among Spanish sailors and it was referred to as bamboozle (sounds familiar?).

Nowadays, we use this expression to describe a dishonest person who eventually reveals who he or she really is. It would be great if some people came with flags, don’t you think?

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Starting at a new job can feel overwhelming until you finally learn the ropes. That’s probably how rookie sailors felt like in times before steam or fossil fuel ships. A long time ago, when almost all ships had sails, new recruits had to learn how to manipulate ropes and tie knots. The nautical origin of the expression, therefore, is very clear.

It is true that ropes are rarely used in modern jobs, but the phrase has survived for centuries and we still use it today to refer to the special way things are done in a particular activity. So now that you know, you’ll never be able to teach someone to do something again without thinking of a poor young sailor handling ropes out in the cold sea.

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Not surprisingly, the origin of the idiom "sink or swim" is nautical. Today, we use it to mean that a specific situation will fail or succeed. The source of this expression, however, is purely literal and a bit bleak. In Medieval times, suspected witches were thrown into deep waters to prove their condition. If the victim sank, she would die, but if she managed to swim, she was considered evil and therefore executed.

The first written example of the idiom, as we use it today, can be found in Shakespeare’s play Henry IV: "If he fall in, goodnight! Or sink or swim!".

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In the 17th century, sailors would rub empty barrels used to store food to recover any remaining scraps and not waste anything. These leftovers were presumably of inferior quality, giving the expression the negative connotation it has today. This metaphorical usage, to be forced to use one’s last and weakest resource, might have originated in the US in the 1930s, but it certainly never gets old.

We’ve reached the end of this ranking but that doesn’t mean we are scraping the barrel! There are a lot more idioms and figures of speech of nautical origin that you can explore. Can you think of any other examples? Now that you have a snapshot of what nautical expressions look like, you won't stop finding them!