Smart-Technologies

Charlie Sheen was kinda right: All humans have tiger-like stripes!

They’re called Blaschko’s lines, after the dermatologist who first discovered them, Alfred Blaschko.
It turns out that our skin cells arrange themselves on our bodies in a series of swirling stripes.
However, since our skin cells are usually the same color it’s hard to notice.
People with certain medical conditions that cause skin cells to be different colors can have visible Blaschko’s lines.
They can often only be seen with ultraviolet light.

Flexible glass was invented around 20 AD. So why have we never seen it?

Flexible glass is a legendary lost invention from the time of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar (14–37 AD).
The craftsman who invented the technique brought a drinking bowl made of flexible glass before Caesar who threw it to the floor, whereupon the material dented, rather than shattering.
The inventor then repaired the bowl easily with a small hammer. After the inventor swore to the Emperor that he alone knew the technique of manufacture, Tiberius had the man beheaded, fearing such material could undermine the value of gold and silver.

An iPhone has 240,000 times more computing power than the Voyager I!

For those who haven't heard of the Voyager I Space Probe, it is a spaceship designed by NASA to explore the outer reaches of our solar system and the vast space beyond.
Since being launched 36 years, 4 months, and 20 days ago, Voyager continues to communicate with NASA via the Deep Space Network. It still receives routine commands and return data for scientists to analyze.
Even through it's 11.6 billion miles away in interstellar space, Voyager I's computer systems aren't as advanced as one might think. In reality, it has less than 40 KB of memory. To put that in perspective, your 16 GB iPhone 5 has about 240,000 times the memory of the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
So why does it have so such little computing power? Because it's old, basically. NASA developed the Voyager I in the 1970s, a pre-computer era where scientists worked primarily using pencil, paper, chalkboards and their own mathematical skills. Still, even with its antiquated technology, Voyager I is considered one of NASA's most successful missions.

Europe has "Silent Discos." You listen to music on your headphones

Due to noise ordinances in Europe, club owners have created "silent discos" where clubbers listen to music through headphones.
Rather than use a speaker system, some club owners have resorted to wireless headphones to entertain club goers.
Music is broadcasted via FM-transmitter to the clubber's headphones. It's called "silent discos."
The style of clubbing is popular for music festivals, when people want to party long after noise ordinances would allow. Two DJ's often compete for the listeners, too.