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On March 21, 1986, a man called Ray Cox woke up and got ready for his appointment at the East Texas Cancer Center. Because he suffered from a tumor on his back, he was scheduled to receive a radiation treatment — his ninth treatment so far. Once at the hospital, he lay down on the treatment table. The table was part of a radiation treatment machine developed and installed a few years earlier by a Canadian company. It was capable of delivering different types of ionizing radiation to damage tumor cells. ...

Ah, what a beautiful smell! A wonderful blend of spices is tickling the inside of your nose. You have just finished your meal preparation for the week and are proud of your little creations: Moroccan-spiced chicken with roasted broccoli, a fragrant Thai green curry with lemongrass, and a hearty Mediterranean quinoa bowl. But somehow, a thought in the back of your head is taking away from your enjoyment. You have the hunch that the next time you take a bite out of this food, it won’t be quite the same — because you will need to heat it up using a microwave oven. Results may vary depending on the make and model of your microwave, but we have all experienced something similar: You are starving and desperately want to bring your food up to temperature, so you entrust it to the magical heating device. 2 minutes later you hear a satisfying “bling”, grab your dish and eagerly take a bite out of it. ...

The toaster. A humble device that has silently revolutionized our everyday lives. Every morning when the first sunlight floods their bedrooms, millions of people stumble into their kitchen half asleep, place a piece of bread into the magical appliance and wait for a crisp, perfectly brown slice to emerge and complement their peanut butter or jam. But who was the genius inventor behind this device, the person who permanently altered our breakfast landscape? The person who — according to absolutely no serious historian — has shaped the course of history forever? Do you happen to know? If not, don’t worry. Neither did major news outlets, the Scottish government, or a US museum. Or any person relying on the corresponding Wikipedia article, for that matter. ...

Picture this: You have just twisted your ankle on a morning run. After hobbling to the doctor’s office and feeling the pain with each step, you are led into a dimly lit room. The technician positions your swollen ankle on a cold platform, disappears behind a protective barrier, and with a soft click, invisible rays pass through your aching joint. The doctor calls you to his computer screen and shows you an image of your bones, seemingly unharmed. ...

There’s something darkly funny about aviation safety guidelines: When an aircraft instrument fails or gives wrong readings, regulations require not just a warning sticker next to it labeled “INOP” (as in “inoperative”) but demand the instrument be physically deactivated or removed entirely. Why? Because pilots, highly trained professionals who spend countless hours learning about instrument reliability and cross-verification, keep looking at them anyway. I’ve experienced this myself flying a small aircraft recreationally. Despite the warning stickers next to the broken instrument, despite knowing better, your eyes are magically drawn to these dead instruments — as if staring at false readings long enough might somehow make them true. ...

My fiancé always gets nervous when I keep my coffee cup too close to the edge of the desk while working. I’m not even sure why I do it; maybe it is an unhealthy cockiness towards the law of gravity or just “thrill-seeking” in everyday life. Either way, it is easy for her to imagine the cup falling off the table and shattering into a pile of pieces, spilling its contents all over the white carpet — a fear that is definitely not unfounded. ...