A historical tree of technological advancement

A detailed interactive timeline of technology since 1500

Tech devices are heirs to a complex history of both technological invention and social history. What if you could visualize how radio, TVs, and other devices are connected to the past and each other? Trace the elaborate genealogies of your phone and computer with this interactive timeline showing tech inventions since 1500.

An interactive timeline of history, from beginning to middle

The history of humanity is a long, winding road, and the history of everything else is even more complex and interwoven. This interactive timeline takes users through the history of the world and includes links to related videos, blurbs, and events. Each event in history is represented by a dot, providing users with a glittering horizon filled with moments of intrigue and impact.

The history of metallurgy: an interactive timeline

Humans have long been shaping metals into useful tools and aesthetic accessories. By 8,700 BCE, humans already had mastered four types of casting copper. Within a few thousand years, people were combining metals to make the alloy bronze and had...

The history of the gene: an interactive timeline

Humans didn’t need modern technology to figure out that kids tend to look like their parents. But what did humans believe about genetics before we knew about DNA or cells in general? Explore this interactive timeline to see how philosophers and scientists throughout the ages tried to explain how traits are passed from generation to generation.

Human origins 101

Learn about the over 20 early human species that belong in our family tree and how the natural selection of certain physical and behavioral traits defined what it means to be human.

When humans discovered fire

Fire has proven crucial for the development of human civilization, but there was a time when our hominin ancestors could not make effective use of it. This article traces the major milestones in humanity's journey with fire based on evidence from...

How old are stone tools?

The earliest evidence for stone tools currently dates back to 3.3 million years ago, long before modern humans started roaming about. These tools were made by stone flaking, a mode of tool creation that still is used today and is done by striking...

The history of infographics: cave art to interactive visuals

When did humans first create infographics? This article and related infographics detail how artistic data representations have evolved alongside humans and other hominins. The roots of infographics can be traced back to cave paintings, such as...

Exploring World War I technology on the battlefield

Industrialization brought massive changes to warfare during the Great War. Newly-invented killing machines begat novel defense mechanisms, which, in turn spurred the development of even deadlier technologies. Nearly every aspect of what we would consider modern warfare debuted on World War I battlefields. Starting with soldiers on horseback carrying lances and ending in poison gas, machine guns, and aerial battles, this gallery shows the first tools of modern warfare.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

The era of advanced farming machines

Traditional agriculture, which for millennia was conducted primarily as subsistence farming by millions of workers, has been transformed since the industrial revolution. Agribusinesses continue to develop newer, more specific tools to streamline the...

Flip through centuries-old artifacts in this 3D library

Archaeology is hands-on work, giving researchers the ability to analyze artifacts from as many sides as possible to find marks left by those that came before us. While looking at pictures of artifacts gives you some insight, you're limited to...

Dragon seismometers, Baghdad batteries, and more ancient artifacts

The ancients were behind us in many ways, but some inventions from the time have not been surpassed in the modern era in effectiveness, beauty, or cleverness. This quick list of bizarre ancient inventions includes a battery from Baghdad, a Molotov cocktail-like explosive in Greece, and more.

The Indigenous people of the central Californian coast made many advancements

The Indigenous people of the central Californian coast made advancements in basketry, small stone tools, the use of shell beads as currency, and plank canoes for seafaring. In the years before European contact, their numbers reach 25,000 across 150 settlements.

Several birthstones play key roles across modern technologies

Diamonds are used in drills and quantum computing, while peridot and zircon help in steelmaking and carbon capture. Rubies, sapphires, and alexandrite enable several varieties of lasers found in medicine and advanced optics. Garnets are found in water filtration systems and radiation detectors. Sapphires are used as substrates in semiconductors.

Swords from around the world: an encyclopedia

Swords may have fallen out of favor as the go-to method of warfare, but they once were a common choice worldwide. Scroll through this online encyclopedia to learn about and see swords from ancient to modern times. The ubiquity of swords and their...

An inventory of ancient trees in the United Kingdom

The world is filled with trees that are hundreds—if not thousands—of years old, and the UK's Woodland Trust believes each one deserves the same protections great cathedrals and castles receive. This active database invites users to peruse...

A brief history of Christmas tree design

A celebration of the Christmas tree in all its festive glory. Get a glimpse into its intriguing background and the lore that accompanies it.

Visualizing the built world compared to the natural world

In the last century, humans have covered the Earth in 1,300 metric gigatons of built material, known as technomass. That amount is more than the Earth's entire biomass at 1,100 GT, which includes all living organisms. To get a sense of the scale of this comparison, click through this striking, simple visualization showcasing the various organisms comprising biomass as well as the materials making up the technomass.

The Ishango bone suggests mathematics was born about 20,000 years ago

Ancient civilizations developed mathematical systems for various purposes, including the Egyptians for the construction of the pyramids and the Ancient Greeks for logical reasoning in theorems. However, these systems were predated by the Ishango bone—found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—whose notches suggest a base ten system, prime numbers, and simple mathematical operations.

All computers are defined by their ability to input, store, process, and output data

From wooden machines to wearable tech, computers have changed a lot in appearance, but they all still perform the same essential tasks. Early computers were made of wood and metal—some were so big that they filled entire rooms just to solve simple math problems.

See the history of DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing evolved from manual methods to automated, high-throughput technologies. The Human Genome Project was possible in the first generation of gene sequencing technology with the "chain termination method," which won developer Fredrick Sanger a Nobel Prize.

The evolution of the baseball bat

Torpedo bats may be the latest, most powerful kind of baseball bat, but the instrument's history is long. This Smithsonian resource traces the bat's evolution from handmade objects forged by the players to mass-produced marvels of physics designed by companies like Louisville Slugger. Along the way, you'll see some interesting takes on the form, including bats referred to as "mushrooms" and "bananas."

Taiwan's economic history, analyzed

See how the global economic power evolved from the colonial period to today, including charts and graphs highlighting China's progress, especially in recent decades.

Stephen Wolfram on AI's rapid progress & the "Post-Knowledge Work" era

AI, as a concept, has been around since at least the 1950s, but it's only in the last year or so that the technology has been able to equal humans at many tasks -- and in many cases surpass humans. In this podcast, mathematician and computer scientist Stephen Wolfram provides an AI 101, explaining how we got here, how highly advanced chatbots like ChatGPT work, and what our world is in store for next.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.