Serious Play: 4 Toys That Inspired Scientific Breakthroughs

Children's toys can help teach kids about colors, shapes, and imagination. But it turns out they've also inspired scientists and engineers for centuries, leading to innovations in medical diagnostics and space travel. So, if you're looking for your next million-dollar idea, consider raiding the nearest toy chest!Hosted by: Hank GreenSciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org----------Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow----------Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:Alisa Sherbow, Silas Emrys, Drew Hart. Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Adam Brainard, Nazara, GrowingViolet, Ash, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow----------Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishowTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishowTumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.comInstagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow----------Sources:https://science.sciencemag.org/content/323/5917/1026https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Galileos-Revolutionary-Vision-Helped-Usher-In-Modern-Astronomy-34545274/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPePaKnYh2Ihttps://www.mountclare.org/education/MakeYourOwnWhirligigToy_PlayLearn.pdfhttps://druckerdiagnostics.com/knowledge/how-a-centrifuge-works/https://druckerdiagnostics.com/?product=model-642e-centrifugehttps://druckerdiagnostics.com/shop/horizontal-centrifuge/centrifuge-model-dash-apex-24/https://druckerdiagnostics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UserGuide_SampleReview.pdfhttps://druckerdiagnostics.com/qbc-malaria-test/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-016-0009https://www.reference.com/world-view/much-single-grain-rice-weigh-c39a20469d3fe660https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000251https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-of-shrinky-dinks-36715644/https://www.cmu.edu/gelfand/lgc-educational-media/polymers/molecular-rearrangement/shrinky-dinks.htmlhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-019-0083-3https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41746-019-0083-3/MediaObjects/41746_2019_83_MOESM1_ESM.pdf Fig 6https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/loftid/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/feature/not-child-s-play-toys-that-inspired-nasa-innovationshttps://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/game_changing_technology/game_changing_development/HIAD/big-picture.htmlhttps://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/cami/library/online_libraries/aerospace_medicine/tutorial/media/iii.4.1.7_returning_from_space.pdfhttps://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/26/134445/nasa-engineers-build-better-heat-shield/https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/loftid_fact_sheet_june2019.pdfhttps://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20160011571/downloads/20160011571.pdf?attachment=truehttps://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/hjap-ngo052020.phphttps://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/how-do-jumping-popper-toys-workhttps://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/5/42/eabb1967https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2018.00084/fullhttps://robotacademy.net.au/lesson/actuators/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7110394Images:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A4%D1%83%D1%80%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B7_%D2%91%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%83.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BuzzerAmericanBoy1907.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blood-centrifugation-scheme.pnghttps://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/10/whirligig-toy-bioengineers-develop-20-cent-hand-powered-blood-centrifuge/https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/201588.php?from=430597https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/201589.php?from=430597https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surel%27sPlaceShrinkyDinksButterflies.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polistirolo.JPGhttps://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41746-019-0083-3/MediaObjects/41746_2019_83_MOESM1_ESM.pdfhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-019-0083-3https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_cm.jpghttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery%27s_heat_shield.jpghttps://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/stp/game_changing_development/HIAD/IMG-hiad-stand.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/game_changing_technology/game_changing_development/HIAD/angle.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/larc/expert-panel-assesses-inflatable-spacecraft-tech/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/loftid/index.htmlhttps://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/232521.php?from=464938https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/167435.php?from=390233https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/232522.php?from=464938