Velcro was copied from burdock burrs that stuck to a Swiss engineer's dog after a walk in the Alps

pop & funWikipedia1941 · Switzerland

Velcro was copied from burdock burrs that stuck to a Swiss engineer's dog after a walk in the Alps

the gist

In 1941 Swiss engineer George de Mestral noticed that burdock burrs clung to his clothes and his dog's fur, and under a microscope he saw that each burr was covered in tiny hooks that caught on any loop. He realised that two surfaces could be bound and released repeatedly if the hooks and loops were miniaturised and spread across a flat surface, rather than arranged in a single line like a hook-and-eye. The hard part was manufacturing it: cotton frayed, so he switched to nylon, which he found forms small hooks when sewn under hot infrared light. Trimming the tops off woven loops created the matching hooks, and it took about ten years to build a machine that could make the product reliably. The patent was granted in 1955, and the name blends the French words velours and crochet.

so what

Hook-and-loop fasteners became a standard of everyday life and of spaceflight, where they helped astronauts move in bulky suits. The invention is a classic example of biomimicry, the practice of copying mechanisms that evolution has already perfected. NASA is often credited with inventing it, but it was adopted by NASA rather than invented there.

fun fact

The name Velcro is a blend of the French words velours, meaning velvet, and crochet, meaning hook.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗