Grenfell's fire forced a rewrite of England's cladding rules
The Grenfell Tower fire exposed a cladding product that failed fire tests for 12 years. The Building Safety Act followed in 2022.
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Chile fought a war and gained a third of its territory
The Spanish colony met fierce Mapuche resistance in the south. Victory over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific then grew its territory by a third.
A cat-food tin, and the invention of the hovercraft
Christopher Cockerell tested his hovercraft theory with a coffee tin, a cat-food can and a vacuum cleaner, on the mud floor of his own boatyard.
A steel arch now covers Chernobyl's wrecked reactor 4
Chernobyl's reactor 4 had no containment structure to stop its 1986 explosion. In 2017 engineers slid the New Safe Confinement, a steel arch, over the ruin.
One Bronze Age wreck off Turkey began underwater archaeology
In 1960 George Bass, a Penn graduate student, led the first archaeologist-run dig of an ancient wreck. He later founded the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.
Galton's ox: a crowd's average guess landed within one per cent
At a 1906 Plymouth livestock show, 787 people guessed an ox's weight. Most were wrong, yet their average landed within one per cent of the truth.
George de Mestral turned burrs stuck to his dog into Velcro
De Mestral copied the hooks on burrs he studied under a microscope. Designers turned Velcro down, and the aerospace industry became its first customer.
Germany's small firms lead niche markets worldwide
Almost 99% of Germany's companies are Mittelstand firms, often family-run and exporting early, and many lead their whole niche worldwide.
Thalidomide: the sedative that rewrote US drug law
FDA reviewer Frances Kelsey's refusal to approve thalidomide in 1960 led to the US law requiring proof a drug is safe and effective.
Bulgaria's women's choirs sing from an open throat
Bulgaria's state women's choir built its sound on open-throat singing, a drone and clashing close intervals. The choral form dates to the Soviet era.
Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth gives nature legal rights
Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth grants nature 11 rights, including the right to exist and to remain free of pollution and genetic change.
Ecuador's Panama hat took its name from where it was sold
The Panama hat is woven in Ecuador. It took the name of the place it was sold and shipped through, and a 1906 photo of Theodore Roosevelt made it stick.
England's FA Cup draw handed Mansfield a tie with Arsenal
The 2025-26 FA Cup draws paired eighth-tier Maldon & Tiptree with Port Vale and gave League One Mansfield Town a fifth-round home tie with Arsenal.
Ethiopia's constitution builds each state around an ethnic group
Ethiopia's 1995 constitution built its states on ethnicity, and lets any group that qualifies form its own. It has not stopped border violence.
The UK's £400 energy bill grant cost £12bn and has closed
The UK's Energy Bills Support Scheme began as a £200 loan and became a £400 grant costing £12bn. It closed along with the seven other energy support schemes.
Zoe Slater leaves EastEnders as the Hawkins family adds Meghan
Michelle Ryan's Zoe Slater is leaving EastEnders later in 2026, as the soap casts a new member of the Hawkins family named Meghan.
The classic smiley face cost $45, and no trademark came with it
Harvey Ball drew the best-known smiley face in ten minutes for $45 in 1963. He never trademarked it, and the Spain brothers later claimed it.
Goldbach's 1742 claim about primes still has no proof
In 1742, Christian Goldbach told Euler that every even number over 2 is the sum of two primes. Nobody has proved it since.
Argentine adults can change legal gender with no doctor or judge
Argentina's 2012 Gender Identity Law lets adults change the gender and name on official papers by their own declaration, and puts treatment on health plans.
Apple v the FBI: the US fight that one iPhone started
In 2016 a US judge told Apple to help the FBI into a gunman's iPhone. Apple refused, calling it a backdoor, and the case ended when a hired firm broke in.
Rivals gave Emily Atack the role she spent years chasing
Emily Atack spent years known as Charlotte in The Inbetweeners. She calls Rivals the best job of her life, playing a woman Jilly Cooper never condemns.
Some skyscrapers wear their frame on the outside
A diagrid carries a tower's load on diagonals on its skin. In London it let Newfoundland stand light over an Underground tunnel, and 30 per cent taller.
Bindi Irwin marks 20 years since Steve Irwin's death
Twenty years after the Crocodile Hunter died, his daughter Bindi said his legacy was love, not only conservation. His show reached more than 100 countries.
A ventriloquist never throws a voice, the audience's eyes do
The sound comes from the performer's own mouth. The audience's eyes pin it on the dummy's moving mouth, and performers are using that trick again.