Interesting Technology Facts for Kids

• The early concepts for the internet were developed by the US government in a system called ARPAnet. In 1969 ARPAnet was used to send data from a computer at UCLA to a computer at Stanford. Between 1973-1974 at the Xerox company, the concept was greatly improved when Ethernet was developed, which is much more like the internet as we know it today.


• The first home video game console was kit created by Ralph Baer in 1967 called the Brown Box because it looked like a brown box. The technology was later licensed to Magnavox who sold it as the Odyssey in 1972.


• The first video arcade game was Galaxy Game created by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck in 1971.


• The first handheld mobile phone was developed by Motorola. Dr. Martin Cooper, who was an engineer with Motorola, placed the first handheld mobile phone call to Dr. Joel Engel, an engineer with Bell labs on April 3, 1973.


• The first iPhone was sold on June 29, 2007. It is currently the best selling phone of all-time in the United States and Japan.


• The fastest roller coaster in the world is the Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. It travels at 240 km/hr (just under 150 mph).


• Scientists have recently developed efficient technology to create electricity from vegetation waste. Food factories and landfills can use the technology to make methane gas which is burned to make electricity.


• Scientists are currently working towards de-extinction of different animals. By using cloning technology scientists hope to bring back animal species like the passenger pigeon, ibex, Tasmanian tiger and woolly mammoth.


• Scientists are working on a safe hydrogen car design. Hydrogen was used by NASA for rockets. The speed record for a hydrogen car is just over 286 mph set in 2008 by the Ohio State University's Buckeye Bullet 2.


• According to a Kaiser Family Foundation finding, kids spend an average of 53 hours per week watching TV, playing video games, or using a computer or electronic device.


• Scientists are currently working on cars that can drive on without a driver. Cars travel in a train. The following cars can follow the lead car automatically without being driven by a driver.


• Scientists are working with Hewlett Packard to develop a memristor which will give chip developers that ability to store data at the atomic level. Much faster data storage with lower power usage will be a certain result of development of the memristor


• Smart watches and smart glasses will soon give people access to the internet without carrying a device.