There are very few things that we can show as the application of the hard sciences, mostly due to the fact that we take these applied principles for granted. But what if these principles became a matter of life and death? In the days of the Polynesian wayfinders, this is exactly the situation, where mistakes can lead you to isolation in an unforgiving ocean.

But dark as it may be, Disney somehow still manages to put a happy face on it...

Sometimes even the most terrible disasters have serendipitous consequences. Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 for instance have been said to be a worthwhile "investment" just because of a single chart that was drawn 57 years after. This chart have been said to be a triumph that even the great French general (who was an amateur mathematician himself) would approve of.

As they say, when life gives you lemons...

There are few materials in this world that resulted in civilisation-changing impacts. Bronze was discovered early in our history, but we didn't have the technology to apply it thoroughly. Iron started similarly, and it tool millennia to put them into construction and machine making. Aluminium (or "aluminum" in case you're an American) went through the process of discovery, novelty, application, and societal dependence in less than two centuries.

This is the story of how it came into being...

Now, this topic might be controversial to some, but be that as it may, it currently provides the best explanation to how all life on Earth are the way they are. Note that we use the word "currently", as the theory of evolution through natural selection is ever changing with every new evidence discovered: fossils, taxonomy, genetics.

It is quite poetic that one of the most controversial theories in science also goes through the process of evolution. Maybe we'll cover how the idea changed since Darwin, but for now, we must first understand how it works.

There are few things in this world that are as simple as they are crucial to our civilisation; and these things exist as a solution to an old problem. To fight gravity, we have pulleys;  for multiplying force we use levers; and so on...

But in our modern times, the vexing problem of friction are the things that keeps engineers awake at night. And a very simple tool that have not essentially changed in centuries are the best things we have to keep it at bay...