Most ahead‑of‑its‑time inventions

Is it usefulness, accidental genius, or sheer dumb luck that produces inventions? Well, after this episode, we at least know for sure what Batman's answer would be. As for the rest of it, you'll just have to listen along while we dive into one of Ceri's dream topics: Inventions!

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! 

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscriber Garth Riley for helping to make the show possible!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[This or That]

Pacemaker

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3232561/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/11/from-viagra-to-valium-the-drugs-that-were-discovered-by-accident

Snow globe

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-25298507

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-an-experiment-to-amplify-light-in-hospital-operating-rooms-led-to-the-accidental-invention-of-the-snow-globe-180985742/

Stethoscope 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1570491/

https://www.thoughtco.com/rene-laenecc-stethoscope-1991647

[The Scientific Definition]

Pigeon Vest

https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/pigeons-bras-go-war

Bat Bomb

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/1090bats/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-almost-perfect-world-war-ii-plot-to-bomb-japan-with-bats

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/04/old-weird-tech-the-bat-bombs-of-world-war-ii/237267/

Chicken Eyeglasses

https://gizmodo.com/thousands-of-chickens-once-wore-glasses-to-stop-them-ki-1700343874

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1989/11/27/entrepreneur-wants-a-lens-in-every/

https://extension.psu.edu/poultry-cannibalism-prevention-and-treatment

https://patents.google.com/patent/US730918

Experiment (patent in category “Boats to ascend rivers”)

https://books.google.com/books?id=K1YdAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA120#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/nautarch/nwl/lake-champlain-projects/hoofbeats-over-the-water-ina-research-on-horse-powered-ferryboats/

https://books.google.com/books?id=z0Avt3ruFx0C&pg=PA294#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.uspto.gov/blog/the-search-for-lost-x

[Ask the Science Couch]

“Ahead of their time” inventions (Undersea cables, Antikythera mechanism, electric cars) 

https://www.nps.gov/caco/learn/historyculture/french-transatlantic-cable.htm

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w

https://www.youtube.com/@clickspring

https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-early-electric-cars

Patreon bonus: Patent law and whether you can apply without a prototype

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/100

https://www.legal.uillinois.edu/services/legal_guidance/inventions_and_patents

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2109.html

https://improbable.com/2014/02/21/the-blonsky-centrifugal-birthing-device-in-dublin/

[Butt One More Thing]

John Henry Kellog’s vibratory dining chair for bowel movements

https://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/k-chair.htm

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-nutrition-history-quackery/enigmatic-dr-kellogg

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.