How a melted candy bar changed the way we cook

What if I told you some of the most recognizable, everyday things we use, like the microwave oven or Post-it notes, and other revolutionary inventions like penicillin or Velcro, came about by accident? That’s right; they weren’t necessarily the result of careful planning, but the byproduct of other experiments that unintentionally led to their findings. Keep reading to learn about 10 fascinating discoveries that occurred by accident.

Penicillin became the first widely used antibiotic and went on to save millions of people from deadly bacterial infections. But this wasn’t what its creator, Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming, was trying to do in the first place.

In 1928, he went to his laboratory and noticed that in one of his bacterial culture dishes, a mold had grown accidentally and killed the surrounding bacteria. This small accident sent him down a path to figure out what happened and eventually led him to discover what we know as penicillin.

One day, a scientist was working with a magnetron as always when he suddenly realized that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. Surprised by this, he brought popcorn kernels close to the magnetron and watched them pop; finally, he tried an egg, which heated up and burst.

The scientist was Percy Spencer, and he had just laid the foundations for creating the first commercial microwave oven, called the Radarange, which was introduced in 1947, opening the door to a whole new way of cooking.

How did a fake glue become a billion-dollar idea? Scientist Spencer Silver was trying to create a powerful glue in 1968, but instead, he ended up with an adhesive that was strong enough to stick to surfaces but incredibly easy to peel off without leaving much residue.

Instead of regarding this as a failure, he thought it might have some practical use, though his idea was dismissed multiple times by others. Finally, in 1974, another scientist called Art Fry realized Silver’s glue could hold a bookmark in place, which, after years of experimenting, led to the invention of a single piece of paper that could stick and be removed without damaging the surface: the Post-it notes.

An upset chef in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1853, after a fussy customer complained his potatoes were too thick, served him extremely thin potatoes fried in oil as a joke. Turns out, the customer loved it, and the dish became known as "Saratoga chips."

It’s fair to mention that this popular snack wasn’t 100% invented there, as there are records of a similar recipe in an 1817 English cookbook, though the Saratoga chef certainly helped popularize it.

While Velcro was indeed created and patented by the Swiss engineer George de Mestral in 1955, the reality is that nature had invented it first. What triggered Mestral's "eureka" moment was seeing some burrs stuck to his clothing and his dog’s fur when returning from a hunting trip.

He was curious about how the burr could stick so firmly, and after studying it with a microscope, he saw that the burr had some tiny hooks that attached to the fabric and the animal fur, so he decided to replicate the same principle to create Velcro.

In 1938, a chemist and DuPont worker called Roy Plunkett was working with tetrafluoroethylene gas, trying to come up with new refrigerants, though he ended up creating a completely new material. At some point while doing his experiments, he noticed the gas had turned into a waxy solid "thing" that was extremely resistant to heat and chemicals and was highly nonstick.

The material was first used in industrial and military applications and later became associated with the brand name Teflon, mainly used as a coating for cookware.

Scientists first rejected Super Glue because it was too sticky — ironic, isn’t it? The story makes more sense when you learn that the initial goal of Harry Coover Jr. and his team in 1942 was to find a material to make clear plastic gun sights during World War II.

The material they were experimenting with was too sticky and difficult to work with, so the team moved away from it, though Coover Jr. realized he had discovered a substance that could easily bond two surfaces together without the need to use heat or pressure. Later, this product went on to become what we all know now as Super Glue.

Kids love popsicles, but did you know it was also a kid who invented them? In 1905, Frank Epperson, an 11-year-old boy from San Francisco, forgot his soda with a wooden stirring stick outside overnight on his porch. The next morning, the thing was frozen, and he noticed he could hold it by the stick and eat it like a frozen treat.

At first he made them for his family and friends, but later he started selling his invention. The popsicle became a sensation, particularly during the Great Depression, as it was an affordable treat for the family.

Imagine being a serious naval engineer working on a serious engineering problem and accidentally creating one of the most fun and iconic toys ever. That’s exactly what happened to Richard James, who in 1943 was trying to make springs to help stabilize sensitive equipment aboard ships when one of them accidentally fell and "walked" away.

James saw the opportunity to make a toy out of that and showed it to his wife, who named it "Slinky." The naval engineer sold the toy to Gimbels department store in Philadelphia in 1945, and Slinky was an immediate success.

The whole point of laminated safety glass is that its pieces won’t fly apart when it breaks. The discovery was made by chemist Édouard Bénédictus in the 1900s, when one of his laboratory flasks fell and did not completely shatter because it had a thick coating of a type of plastic that helped hold the pieces together.

This accident made him realize that putting a flexible material between layers of glass prevents broken glass from flying apart. His discovery is still used today in vehicles and buildings.

We just know that we know nothing

12 facts that people often get wrong

No one can claim to know everything, but most people go through life confident about certain things. However, some of these widely held beliefs are not actually correct, despite their popularity. Let’s have a look at some "facts" you might have gotten wrong!

The idea that insects—particularly mosquitoes—are not animals is widespread, but it’s also incorrect. In fact, insects are the most diverse group within the Animal kingdom, with more than a million species described and representing more than half of the animal population of the planet.

The mistake comes from not considering that "fruit" is not only a culinary term but also a botanical one. Botanically, a fruit is the part of a plant that develops from a flower and contains seeds. This makes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many other foods that we call vegetables actually fruits in the scientific sense.

Countries have a political delimitation, while continents are divided according to geographical criteria. The Russian Federation is the largest country on Earth, bordering fourteen other countries and extending across eleven time zones. It spans across a good part of Eastern Europe, but also across the Ural mountains—one of the recognized borders between Europe and Asia—and stretches deep into northern Asia.

While cold weather isn’t harmless, it is not the direct cause of illnesses like the flu, which are caused by viruses. In colder months, people tend to spend more time indoors and often avoid ventilating rooms, creating conditions that make it easier for viruses to spread and cause illness.

Bats might not prefer to be out during bright daylight, but this does not mean that they are blind. In fact, many species have excellent eyesight, though it is adapted to low-light or nighttime conditions. On top of that, bats also use echolocation, which allows them to navigate and hunt with remarkable precision in complete darkness.

The belief that you must wait a full day before reporting someone missing is a myth popularized by movies and TV shows. In reality, the law does not require a waiting period. In fact, law enforcement agencies stress that the first 24 hours are often the most critical, so a missing person should be reported immediately.

Some man-made structures are visible from space without magnification, but despite popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not one of them. While it is quite long, being over 13,000 miles long, it is relatively narrow, and its earthy colors blend in with the surrounding landscape, making it nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye from orbit.

This one is tricky: Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth (29,032 feet)… if you measure the distance from sea level to peak. For the actual tallest mountain, the answer might vary depending on how you measure. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest at 33,474 feet—though much of it is underwater. Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska rises about 18,000 feet from its base to the peak, making it the tallest mountain entirely above sea level. And Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, while shorter in height, is the farthest point on Earth from the planet’s center due to the equatorial bulge.

The Earth is tilted on an axis, which causes the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives to change as it orbits the Sun. Because of this tilt, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun and experiences summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and experiences winter—and vice versa. This is why the Southern Hemisphere celebrates Christmas during summer.

Standard medical advice is to gently guide a sleepwalker back to bed rather than waking them, but not because waking them is inherently dangerous. People tend to sleepwalk during deep sleep, so waking them up might startle them or cause confusion and disorientation.

Hair color and thickness are determined by genetics, not by shaving. Hair naturally gets thin at the ends, so when you shave it, the hair shaft appears to be thicker and darker because of the blunt cut. But it's just an optical illusion; the natural size of the shaft remains unchanged.

Coffee is a natural diuretic, meaning it can increase trips to the bathroom. However, the water in brewed coffee still contributes to your hydration and offsets its mild diuretic effect. If you consume coffee in moderation—3 to 5 cups a day, depending on your tolerance—you should be alright. However, drinking extra water on the side is never a bad idea.