When I graduated from university and moved into my own place, the only house I could afford was right near a manufacturing plant. At first, I thought living in the industrial part of the city would be a nightmare, but it actually turned out to be fascinating. I quickly developed an interest in industrial equipment and supplies, and spent many evenings walking around the factories to get a better look at what was going on inside. Since then, I've moved to a quiet part of the city, but my interest in industry never waned. Since I don't have the luxury of being able to visit the industrial district anymore, I thought I'd do the next best thing--start a blog about it!
Wherever you live, be it out in the country or in the deepest metropolis, we are constantly bypassing extremely complex inventions that have made our lives so much easier than they were before their existence. These are not inventions that are traditionally thought of as exciting because of how widespread they are. Now they have become the norm but by getting to know a little about each of them and understanding what makes them so ubiquitous it will help us be forward thinking when it comes to the next big invention.
1. Transformers
Transformers allow billions of people to use electricity at a rate that is safe to consume by their appliances. Many people don't know but power plants send out electricity at 700,000 or more volts (to conserve the amount of power lost during transportation) and if that electricity went straight into your house it would explode every single item connected to the power supply. Instead we need something to transform the power to a level that is safe to be used by regular household appliances. Transformers do this en masse across the world and seldom malfunction, especially in western countries with developed infrastructures like Australia. If it weren't for transformers there would be a very good chance electricity would be prohibitively expensive due to the cost it would take to transfer lower amounts of electricity directly to each house.
2. Deoderant
People forget how recent an invention deodorant and anti-perspirants are, having only been invented in the late 19th, early 20th century and it wasn't until the 1920's that they really became popular household items. Before this and for the vast, vast majority of human history there were very few ways to make yourself smell good on a daily basis, especially if you weren't rich enough to afford ludicrously expensive perfumes (which were often made from ambergris a.k.a. whale vomit). Next time you remember your favourite historical event think about just how badly everyone smelt and be thankful for modern deodorants.
3. Antibiotics
While people theorised about the possibility of something resembling modern antibiotics, Alexander Flemming was the first to fully harness the powers of antibiotics when he stumbled across penicillin in 1928. It was another 20 years before it became popularised outside of military use but when it was released penicillin (and newer antibiotics) has quite literally saved millions of lives. By fighting harmful bacteria, one of the leading causes of death and disease in the world, antibiotics has revolutionised modern medicine.
So the next time you use one of these three inventions remember that the next worldwide phenomenon might be just around the corner. In our globally connected society something can change the world in an instant, the only question is what will it be.