Margaux Roberts

Calculators have become almost indispensable in classrooms, but it might surprise you to know they were nearly banned from schools in the past. Imagine having a math class stripped of all digital or mechanical help—no calculators, no computers, just pencil, paper, and raw brainpower. Sounds extreme today, but back then, that was a real debate. … Read more

The journey of face recognition technology isn’t the straightforward tale of nonstop progress that most people assume. Instead, it’s more like a suspenseful drama that almost hit a dead end back in the ’90s. Imagine a field buzzing with promise, only to suddenly stall, teetering on the edge of irrelevance. To anyone deeply interested in … Read more

Apollo 13 was supposed to be a routine mission—to fly to the moon, land on its surface, collect samples, and come home safely. NASA had done it before, and the technology seemed solid. Yet, what unfolded turned into one of the most gripping survival stories in space exploration history. The mission nearly ended in tragedy, … Read more

You might find it hard to imagine now, but there was a time when radio could have simply vanished into obscurity—drowned out by skepticism, technical obstacles, and, oddly enough, a lack of widespread enthusiasm. The device that once dominated the living rooms of the world was nearly written off as a failed hobby before it … Read more

It’s wild to think about vaccines, those tiny jabs we often take for granted today, almost disappearing entirely back in the 1800s. Today, they’re hailed as medical marvels, but the journey there wasn’t smooth, and in fact, it was downright contentious. Did you know there were serious pushbacks so intense that some wanted to ban … Read more

Plastic—it’s everywhere now, right? From your coffee cup lid to the car dash to the packaging on almost everything you buy. Yet, it wasn’t always the default. Hard to imagine now, but plastic was nearly left on the sidelines, barely making a commercial dent for decades after it was first invented. What’s wild is that … Read more

Long before we envisioned dinosaurs as the scaly, gigantic reptiles stomping across prehistoric Earth, some early scientists seriously considered they might have been mammals. It sounds bizarre now, but the line between these ancient creatures and mammals was once far blurrier than today’s textbooks imply. The journey through scientific missteps and leaps offers a fascinating … Read more

The story behind the SAT’s math section is far from what most people assume. You’d think math, with its numbers and formulas, has always been an integral part of this exam designed to assess a student’s readiness for college. But interestingly, the SAT almost didn’t include math at all. How did a test that now … Read more

Isaac Newton’s monumental impact on science is undeniable. His laws of motion and universal gravitation laid the foundation for centuries of physics. Yet, what’s rarely mentioned is how Newton’s towering legacy, as brilliant as it was, nearly smothered the next great upheaval in science—quantum theory. Imagine a revolution so profound that it could have been … Read more

Long before holograms began appearing in sci-fi movies or popping up in gadgets of the near future, the idea of capturing a three-dimensional image that hangs in the air was almost too fantastical to consider real. The hologram teetered on the edge of science fiction, a dazzling concept kissed by imagination but shackled by technological … Read more