Aluminium can be melted down again and again without losing its qualities. Recycling it takes about 95% less energy than making it from bauxite, because it skips the power-hungry electrolysis step. As a result, according to the industry, roughly three-quarters of all aluminium produced since the late 19th century is still in circulation, in buildings, cables, vehicles and cans.
In 1843, inventor Alexander Bain patented a way to send images over telegraph wires using synchronized pendulums. By the 1860s, a commercial fax service was already linking cities. The telephone wasn't patented until 1876, more than three decades after that first fax patent. The fax is really a child of the telegraph age.
On 8 October 1958, in Stockholm, 43-year-old Arne Larsson received the very first implanted pacemaker. The device, designed by engineer Rune Elmqvist and implanted by surgeon Åke Senning, worked for only a few hours and had to be replaced. Larsson went on to receive more than twenty pacemakers in his lifetime. He died in 2001 aged 86, outliving both the engineer and the surgeon.