Small Inventions That Made a Big Difference

Pockets, matches, spectacles, postage stamps.

Whether it's the stitches that hold our clothes together or the syringes that deliver life-saving vaccines, small things really do make a big difference. Yet these modest but essential components of everyday life are often overlooked.

Science and comedy writer Helen Pilcher shares the unexpected stories of 50 humble innovations from the accidental soldering of two bits of metal that created the pacemaker, to the eighteenth-century sea captain whose ingenious invention paved the way for the filming of Star Wars and celebrates the joy of the small yet mighty.

Helen Pilcher is a tea-drinking, biscuit-nibbling science and comedy writer with a PhD in Neuroscience. Her recent popular science book, Life Changing - How Humans are Altering Life on Earth, was shortlisted for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation. Her debut book, Bring Back the King: the New Science of De-extinction, was selected as a BBC Radio 2 Fact Not Fiction Book Choice. It was described by comedian Sara Pascoe as 'science at its funniest'.

A look at small, seldom-noticed and apparently insignificant objects and inventions that have changed the world. Small inventions - modest yet essential, diminutive in size and humble in stature - are an essential component of every element of everyday life. Fifty little objects of fascination, each concealing an unexpected history of innovation, are explored in Small Inventions that Made a Big Difference . From the ever-present (teabags) to the barely visible (ball bearings) and from the absolutely necessary (toilet paper) to the never-knew-you-needed-it (Post-its), science writer and comedian Helen Pilcher will guide you through the wonderful world of tiny examples of ingenuity.

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