I think that the cold fusion effect was a misinterpretation of energy storage, what probably happened in the process was that hydrogen gas was infused into the metal plates and that consisted of a storage of the energy that was put into the system, in other words the motion of gas ions was converted into potential for the motion of these ions in the reverse process.

Kites were used to raise sentries to spy on opposing forces across the battlefield.

The Polish cavalry was on horseback and managed to hold off the German tank invasion during World War 2 — for a few seconds.

Devising a net for fishing is pretty simple, a mere extension of interlaced fingers, but who came up with the brilliant idea of fly fishing, and how long did that take?

The U.S. Militaries went from biplane trainers to monoplane in a couple years, and to jets in less than a decade, after decades of prop-jobs.

And now we’re coming up with new chipless computers with crystal hard drives.

All so utterly, utterly amazing.

Exciting times, ER. Exciting times.

The Egyptians had extremely sophisticated chariots, I watched a show on TV about them the other day. They were made of several different types of wood, each specialized for certain uses and fashioned together very ingeniously so that every part served several simultaneous support and reinforcing functions(to add strength and save weight). They were light, fast, durable, made up of standard interchangeable parts for ease of manufacture and repair and designed to be dismantled and carried over rough terrain where they could be quickly assembled and deployed on flat country suitable for battle. It took them centuries of improvement over their initial design (copied from their rivals in the Middle East) before it finally evolved into its final form: the “most advanced fighting machine of antiquity”. And yet, as far as I know, they never used wagons or carts for simple transport or trade

The ancient Japanese were familiar with the wheel, but officially forbid its use, saying it would cause too much damage to the roads. They used porters and beasts for trade, and sedan chairs and litters to transport dignitaries.

Funny thing about technology. Although an island people highly dependent on the sea, the ancient Japanese built very clumsy and relatively unseaworthy boats, although it is said they were beautiful in appearance and boasted superb craftsmanship. The ancient Japanese were fishermen and coastal traders, but never engaged heavily in overseas commerce and relied on foreign designs for their warships. In contrast, modern Japan is an advanced seafaring nation, with a proud maritime tradition.

On the other hand, Chinese ships were very large, highly advanced, efficient and practical, extremely seaworthy, and could carry heavy cargoes over long distances–against the wind. They were equipped with many innovations that Europeans would not discover for centuries, like an efficient fore-and-aft rig suitable for windward sailing and adaptable to a wide variety of wind conditions, the centerline rudder, compartmentalized cargo spaces below, compass navigation, even tanker construction for carrying bulk fluid cargoes.

There is much research on the effect of technology on culture, but it probably works the other way as well.

Kinda like the discovery of the wheel, with some Cro-Magnon or some such dragging firewood up a long hill to his home and thinking that wheel-thing Og made might make a nice cutting board for the missus…

But you’re right, if this holds up, the stars may very well be ours.

WOW!

It does violate a few fundamental physical laws, so if this is for real (as opposed to some accidental but honest error in the test) this is a much bigger story than just a novel means of spacecraft propulsion. This is a really big deal, even if it never makes it past the laboratory curiosity stage. We’re talking “inertialess drive”, “Dean drive”, pushing against the quantum foam itself.

Wow.