A contest to feed Napoleon's army created the canning industry. Engineers trying to survive nuclear war accidentally invented the internet. A submarine navigation system became GPS. A messy lab bench saved millions from infection. A melted chocolate bar led to the microwave. This episode covers inventions nobody planned—solutions to specific problems that ended up solving problems nobody knew existed. Sometimes the best innovations come from noticing what wasn't supposed to happen.

Content Notice

This episode discusses military technology development and wartime applications. Treatment is historical and analytical.

Let's see what the world's been hiding.