The surprising stories behind the gadgets we take for granted

Hedy Lamarr helped to create technology that was a precursor to the systems used for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Photo / MGM

We are living in a golden age of technology. Uncovering the secrets of miraculous inventions in a new BBC series, The Secret Genius of Modern Life, Professor of mathematics Hannah Fry lists 10 gadgets that have altered – or are set to change – the way we live.

Designs that came from unusual beginnings

1. Wi-Fi from the mind of a Hollywood actress

Screen queen Hedy Lamarr, of Samson and Delilah fame, never received the recognition she deserved for her incredible mind. During the Second World War, the Allies used just one frequency to guide torpedoes, which the German forces found a way to jam, giving Hitler the upper hand.

Lamarr, with her composer friend George Antheil, devised a “frequency-hopping” method of switching between airwaves to counteract this, which they patented in 1942 and gifted to the US Navy. It was ignored at the time, but today forms the basis of how we use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

2. GPS started life in nuclear submarines

We take access to instant digital maps for granted, but the technology that powers those satellites, GPS, started out as a way for nuclear submariners to keep tabs on their location. I visited the high-security Schriever Space Force Base, in the Colorado prairies, from where the world’s 31 GPS satellites are controlled. We use it now for mundane purposes, to find a nearby pub for instance, but in the early 1970s it was cutting-edge secret military technology.

3. Warm pizza boxes thanks to 1980s ski jackets

Delivering hot pizzas to hungry customers was a tricky business in pre-1980s America. Ingrid Kosar was not a scientist (she was a buyer for a steel company), but she was entrepreneurial. She started researching high-tech fabrics to keep pizza hot and came across Thinsulate, popular in ski clothing. She sewed a prototype, approached Domino’s Pizza to try it out, and the future of food deliveries was transformed.

Delivering hot pizzas to hungry customers was a tricky business in pre-1980s America. Photo / 123RF

4. Smart speakers powered by U-boat-seeking microphones

In the First World War, German U-boats were prowling the British coastline, picking off ships supplying food to our shores. Disaster loomed unless the Navy could find a way to locate the subs before they launched their missiles. The solution came from the U-boats’ noisy, clanking engines. The Navy used microphones to home in on the exact direction of travel from boats more than four miles away from the German submarines. It’s the same trick that today empowers smart speakers to pick out our voices even in noisy environments.

5. Contactless payments inspired by Soviet-era bugs

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the US ambassador to the Soviet Union, W Averell Harriman, was given a carving of The Great Seal of the United States by his host nation. It took seven years for the Americans to realise that it housed a microphone and antenna nicknamed “The Thing”, which, when blasted by the right frequency of radio energy, could transmit conversations. There is a tiny version of The Thing inside every contactless bank card, which allows energy to transmit information to the card reader, without needing a battery.

...and inventions that will evolve within 50 years

6. Biometric bank cards

Biometrics, the science of using your body’s physical features as a means of identification, has the potential to enter our lives in more ways. In the series, I visit the Visa Innovation Centre and create a bank account using just my face. We might soon be saying farewell to bank cards, online payments and cash machines in favour of using our faces instead.

7. In-home robotics

Robotic companions that live alongside us have so far remained in the world of science fiction. Until now. I’ve met an Alexa-powered robot called Astro. It’s a moving, remotely controlled assistant that could be programmed to do anything from feeding the dog treats to monitoring home security.

Give it time and you might see it cleaning up while we’re at work.

8. Smarter clothes

There are already yoga pants that help you find the right pose and jackets which give you directions, but I have tried smart socks that can measure every step in granular detail. The technology costs around £150 (NZ$291) and has a limited number of uses – such as helping athletes improve how they run. But the data could give insights into the early onset of diseases such as multiple sclerosis by seeing how our bodies evolve.

9. Super shoes

One range of running shoes by Adidas has been responsible for helping athletes break world records. These “Super Shoes” are reserved for world-class runners, but manufacturers are racing to make the technology even better and to bring the designs to the mass market.

10. Solar cars

As cars become more efficient and solar panels more robust, we might soon see cars powered by the sun. I leapt at the chance to try out a car powered by solar panels attached to the bonnet and roof. If you drive fewer than 25 miles (40 kilometres) a day, the vehicle has the ability to last a whole summer powered entirely by solar energy. It’s an exciting example of the many ideas that are currently being developed, right at the cutting edge of innovation.