London's Science Museum has a new exhibit showing these and other "hidden heroes" of everyday technology. It's hard to remember that items like paper clips were once innovative and unusual, truly technological advances over older, homemade alternatives. Today, they're simply accepted as ordinary.
The museum's exhibit is so interesting because it reminds us that technology need not have chips or batteries to be cutting-edge. Which of the products we view as high-tech today will be hidden heroes of tomorrow?
