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The Fifth Generation Computer Systems project (FGCS) was an initiative by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to create a "fifth generation computer" (see History of computing hardware) which was supposed to perform much calculation using massive parallel...

First public video telephone service The world's first public video telephone service was developed by Dr. Georg Schubert and opened by the German Reichspost in 1936 using square displays of 8 inches (20 cm), but which quickly closed in 1940 due to the outbreak of WWII. In that service trial...

Donkey Kong Was Originally A Popeye Game Miyamoto says Nintendo's main monkey might not have existed Donkey Kong is one of the most iconic games characters of all time but he may not have existed had Nintendo followed their original idea. In the latest 'Iwata Asks' interview, Shigeru...

I was searching for earlier internet threads and found this comment: packet switching We could have built packet switching telegram networks in 1850, using relay logic computers we also could have built. They would have been slow, but much faster than human telegraph...

The first recorded super baby was born in Germany 2004. But what would have happend if he was born 60 years earlier? http://singularityhub.com/2009/06/30/super-babies-reveal-the-key-to-strength-gene/

Under current copyright and trademark laws author/right owner have full control over their creation. This is however a fairly new phenomenon in ancient Greece (constant retelling of stories and stealing from others creators) as well as in Victorian London (Sherlock Holmes, lots of Sherlock...

Lets say for whatever reason, the giant Diamond fields of South Africa are exploited by many competitive firms. There is no Diamond monopoly and no big marketing campaign that turns them into the most wanted gem. (some short interesting points...

Bisin is a naturally occurring lantibiotic (an anti-bacterial peptide) discovered by University of Minnesota microbiologist Dan O'Sullivan. Unlike earlier lantibiotics discovered, such as nisin, bisin also kills Gram-negative bacteria, including E. coli, salmonella and listeria. The...

What if non-lethal weapon were more popular? The following is not the POD for a timline but just one example for a possible POD. Most of the described weapons are post 1900 therfore i put it here but of course it might still be moved. Let say for example the concept of non-lethal warfare and...

The first atomic battery was invented by Henry Moseley in 1913 (beta cell). How could we get widespread use of them in mobile devices like laptops, mobile phones and other stuff? How could we lift inventions like this: http://www.danaquarium.com/article.php?story=20050218182306134 from finge...

Insects can be a good source of not only protein, but also vitamins, minerals, and fats. For example, crickets are high in calcium, and termites are rich in iron. One hundred grams of giant silkworm moth larvae provide 100 percent of the daily requirements for copper, zinc, iron, thiamin, and...

James Holman FRS (October 15, 1786 – July 29, 1857), known as the "Blind Traveler," was a British adventurer, author and social observer, best known for his writings on his extensive travels. Not only completely blind but suffering from debilitating pain and limited mobility, he undertook a...

Ilberto Santos-Dumont (July 20, 1873 – July 23, 1932) was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. Heir of a prosperous coffee producer family, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science studies in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life. Between 1898 and 1905, he built and flew 11...

Light-emitting diodes In course of his work as a radio technician, he noticed that diodes used in radio receivers emitted light when current was passed through them. In 1927, Losev published details in a Russian journal of the first-ever light-emitting diode. In the period of 1924 and 1941...

How plausible is Pietro Caminadas plan for a waterway trough the alps? http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D14F63C5A17738DDDAF0994DA405B888CF1D3 http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/0,1518,746956,00.html

Sugar Cane - Triangluar Slave Trade - Stevia After the discovery of the New World, vast fields of crops such as sugar cane were grown to feed the European empires. Before long, British and French plantations in the West Indies began to dominate. British west coast ports such as Bristol and...

Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria (Greek: Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς) (c. 10–70 AD) was an ancient Greek mathematician who was a resident of a Roman province (Ptolemaic Egypt); he was also an engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria. He is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity...

Inspired by this cartoon:"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" What if Internet anonymity never happed? What if it was seen as dangerous at an far earlier point in time before it became wide spread and was "solved" back then?

This is a spin-off form the Earlier Technology Thread. Antimalarial Qinghao extract "discovered" (1971) This is currently the most effective treatment for malaria that has largely made quinine obsolete. First developed by Chinese researchers in the 70's, but first appeared in ancient texts back...

Only evil extortionist methods achieved the seemingly impossible: For seven years Adolf Hitler tried to gain the German citizenship - he always failed because of the resistance of democratic institutions. A technicality could have almost prevented his political career. Joseph Goebbels announced...