The TV remote control as we know it today was invented by Robert Adler, a US inventor with 180 patents for electronics devices. His widow said the remote was not his favourite invention, as he rarely watched television and was "more of a reader".

One of the earliest examples of remote control was developed in 1893 by Nikola Tesla. He called his patent Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles.

Remote control mechanisms were used by the Germans for motorboats during WWI, and the Soviet Red Army for their teletanks during 1930s in the war against Finland and the early stages of the Great Patriotic War.

The first TV remote control attached to the TV with a cord was produced by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. It was called "Lazy Bones". The founder-president of corporation yarned for a device that could be used to mute the sound of commercials.

The next generation of TV remote controls operated by flashing at photo cells in the TV. However, it had its disadvantages too: if the TV sat in an area where the sun shone directly on it, the remote’s tuner might start rotating.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to use urine to determine pregnancy. To this end they moistened the wheat seeds with urine, and the germination was the equivalent of today’s two stripes (or a plus sign). Testing of this theory in 1960s proved that the urine of pregnant women did indeed promote growth most of the times.

In the 1890s the scientists suggested that certain organs of human body secrete fluids that influence the workings of a human. English physiologist Ernest Henry Starling named these fluids "hormones", after the Greek word hormon meaning "that which sets in motion".

However, the hormone that can be found in a pregnant woman's urine and blood and is detected by today’s pregnancy tests was discovered only in the 1920s by German scientists. Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek introduced testing which identified the presence of hCG in urine in 1928. To test for pregnancy they injected an immature female mouse with woman’s urine. In the case of pregnancy, the mouse’s ovary would show an estrous reaction (be in heat) despite its immaturity.

The first friction match was invented by English chemist John Walker in 1827. This matches produced rather unpleasant odour when burning, and in 1831, Frenchman Charles Sauria added poisonous white phosphorus to remove the smell. The workers involved in production of these dangerous new matches suffered phossy jaw, a type of bone cancer, while young girls carrying boxes of matches on their heads were bald by age 15.

Early matches were made manually, and a diligent worker could produce about 5000 match sticks per hour.

Sweden is now the biggest producer of matches in the world. In the United States the largest wooden match manufacturer is Diamond. It produces 12 billion matches each year.

The modern ball point pen was invented in 1938 by the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Josef Biro who first tried using the ink used in newspaper printing in a fountain pen. It did not work out though, as the too thick ink would not flow into the nib. So, together with his brother, a chemist, he developed a new kind of pen, which used a freely moving ball as a nib.

Biro patented his invention in 1938 in Paris after fleeing Hungary, and in 1943, when the family moved to Argentine the other patent was filed.

Then a British government official decided that the new pens worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude, and bought the British licensing rights soon after the patent was filed. (The question is though why the aircrews needed the pens at high altitude?)

Laszlo Biro is so highly respected in Argentina that Argentina's Inventor's Day is celebrated on Biro's birthday, September 29.

See the Biromash, ballpoint pen drawing, at biro-art.com.

A polygraph, also known as lie detector, is a device used to detect lies. The term "polygraph" literally means "writing much" (from Greek polys "much" + graphos "writing"). Polygraph measures and records changes in cardiovascular patterns, respiratory patterns and in sweat gland activity during an interrogation.

The original polygraph was invented by forensic psychiatrist John Larson in 1921 in California.

He built a machine that simultaneously measured pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiratory changes while a series of questions was being asked. Later he developed an interviewing technique where relevant (Did you steal the money?) and irrelevant (Are you 30 years old?) questions alternate.