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Asked by anon-199743 to Aryanne, Bryony, Kate, Martin, Sumit, Sylvia on 1 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-199423.
Question: What do you think is the best ever invention - don't say sliced bread!
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Martin McCoustra answered on 1 Mar 2019: last edited 1 Mar 2019 2:33 pm
Good question…
There are many I could suggest…
Fire which helped us cook food but more importantly to transform simple materials like clay in pottery and others into metals.
The wheel… which though a simple machine help lighten the burden of moving stuff over long distances.
The place value number system… without it the mathematics on which the modern world is based would probably have not be as easily developed.
The Haber-Bosch Process for making ammonia… It provides the means by which we can feed the population of this planet by allowing us to manufacture fertilisers.
I could probably gone on but you’re probably bored already!
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Bryony Hockin answered on 1 Mar 2019:
Penicillin! It was the first true antibiotic. Before penicillin was invented in around 1940, thousands of people every year died of pneumonia, or from infected cuts and grazes. I’ve been very ill a few times and needed antibiotics, so penicillin has literally saved my life!
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Sylvia Soldatou answered on 1 Mar 2019:
Does chocolate count?
This is a hard but good question! I would say the internet. Because of this invention, I can now talk to you! Sure, there are many downsides but we are a click away from important information. Also, for me that I am not from Scotland and all my family is in Greece I am only a video call away!
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Sumit Konar answered on 3 Mar 2019:
There cannot be a single answer to this question. Best inventions did not happen in one day; most of them are also inter-connected. Still, as a chemist, I believe X-ray crystallography is one of the biggest inventions in the field of structural chemistry. We can see through the structure of any crystalline solids by using X-ray. Double helical structure of DNA could not be solved without X-ray crystallography. Simple table salt, sugar to the complicated protein structure; all can be visualised through X-ray.
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Kate McGonagle answered on 4 Mar 2019:
This is such a tough question because there are so many phenomenal inventions that have done amazing things for people. But, I have to be honest and say the first thing that came into my head which was airplanes!! How amazing are they!? It blows my mind – all those people and luggage and food flying through the air. I love them because they take me on holidays!
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