republished

  • The Typo That Destroyed A NASA Rocket

    The Typo That Destroyed A NASA Rocket

    On 22 July 1962, at 9.20pm, the Mariner I sat idly on its platform, ready to make history. After investing years of construction, calculation, and funding, NASA had high hopes that its rocket would successfully conduct a flyby survey of Venus, thus shifting the Space Race’s momentum back to the home front. In every way,…


  • Why Life Before Anaesthesia Made Doctors More Caring

    Why Life Before Anaesthesia Made Doctors More Caring

    In 1812, the English novelist Frances Burney described her mounting terror as she prepared to undergo a mastectomy without any anaesthetic. Having two hours to wait until the dreaded event (her ‘execution’, as she put it), she wandered into the room where the operation was going to take place and ‘recoiled’. In an effort to…