Scientific spinoffs
September 19, 2011 11:40 AM   Subscribe

What are your best examples of scientific spinoffs?

I'm looking for examples of unexpected or unintended applications of scientific theories or technology - either for other scientific purposes or in everyday life.

For example, I hear tell that invisible braces are made of a polymer developed by NASA as spacecraft material. Whenever I hear about an unexpected everyday application of some scientific something, it's always about NASA technology. Don't get me wrong, I love me some NASA, but I'm more interested in non-NASA-related examples. Are they out there?
posted by pemberkins to Science & Nature (34 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Viagra (originally for hypertension)
posted by mkultra at 11:41 AM on September 19, 2011


Not sure if this is the kind of thing you mean, but a friend of mine works at a big pharmaceutical company, and he told me they have developed a(or maybe a couple?) cure(s) for diabetes in dogs in their quest to find a cure for humans. They'd go through testing for the drug intended for humans, up the chain from mice, to dogs, to pigs, to monkeys and finally to humans, but sometimes at an earlier stage they'll figure out it won't work for humans, even if it worked on another animal.
posted by Grither at 11:44 AM on September 19, 2011


ADHD drugs are used for obesity treatments.
posted by dfriedman at 11:46 AM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: Probably the "best" examples ("best" because they can save lives) I can think of are off-label uses for drugs. The most famous one is probably Viagra, which (if I remember correctly) was created while trying to find a heart medication, turned into a boner drug, but sometimes used now by doctors to treat patients with heart conditions.

Joseph Lister, now widely known as being the Victorian doctor with the best sideburns, started using carbolic acid to disinfect operating rooms after he saw how well it worked to combat the smell of rotting sewage on London's dirty streets.
posted by phunniemee at 11:46 AM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: Cyanoacrylate (super glue/krazy glue) was developed by Kodak in the 1940s in an attempt to make gun sight optics. It didn't work very well as an optical material because it stuck to absolutely everything ...
posted by scruss at 11:52 AM on September 19, 2011


Rogaine, too, was originally an antihypertension drug.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:54 AM on September 19, 2011


Cellophane was discovered by a scientist trying to create a spill-proof fabric. Instead, the cellophane film removed from the fabric backing and eureka!

Percy Spencer discovered the cooking abilities of microwaves when a chocolate bar in his pants melted when he stood in front of the magnetron from a radar array he was working on.

I think Teflon was an accidental discovery from a chemist trying to make new CFC refrigerants. (That was DuPont, but 3M has lots of "accidents" like this.)

And wasn't Play-Doh a wallpaper cleaner that the founder's kid or something started playing with? (Which makes me wonder...is Play-Doh still a good wallpaper cleaner?)
posted by Fortran at 11:55 AM on September 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


LSD was discovered in a search for a respiratory stimulant. Since then it has bounced between psychedelic, therapeutic and military uses quite a bit.
posted by griphus at 11:59 AM on September 19, 2011


I've even seen a second-generation spinoff use for viagra -- the guys on Top Gear used it to cope with altitude sickness in one episode.

Silly Putty was invented by scientists trying to find a replacement for rubber during World War II.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:00 PM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: Cyanoacrylate (super glue/krazy glue) was developed by Kodak in the 1940s in an attempt to make gun sight optics.

Besides glue, it's also used for wound closure under the name Dermabond.
posted by griphus at 12:04 PM on September 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


(note, Fortran, PlayDoh would be a fine (at least adequate) wallpaper cleaner if it weren't packed full of dyes, but as-purchased, it tends to leave a colorful haze everywhere it goes.)

3M is kind of famous for making the products first, and finding a use for them afterwards. Examples:
"I spilled this stuff on my shoe, and now the dirt doesn't stick" --> ScotchGuard
"I made this glue stuff for those stickers you wanted but it doesn't stick very well, peels right off" --> Post-it notes
posted by aimedwander at 12:07 PM on September 19, 2011


Teflon

Microwave ovens
posted by TedW at 1:21 PM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: All modern gaseous anesthetics (actually volatile liquids) that are used in place of ether owe their existence to the need to synthesize large amounts of uranium hexafluoride for use in enrichment. The resulting knowledge of fluorine chemistry enabled the synthesis of a number of novel compounds, including methoxyfluorane, one of the first "modern" volatile anesthetics.
posted by TedW at 1:39 PM on September 19, 2011


Aspartame (also known as Nutra-Sweet) was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for G.D. Searle & Company. Schlatter had synthesized aspartame in the course of producing an antiulcer drug candidate. He accidentally discovered its sweet taste when he licked his finger, which had become contaminated with aspartame, to lift up a piece of paper.
posted by Comrade_robot at 2:13 PM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: GPS uses general relativistic corrections.
posted by nat at 7:38 PM on September 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Mauveine
posted by cardioid at 9:50 PM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: Comrade_robot; I had always heard this story as Schlatter smoking a cigarette while at the bench and noticed that something on his fingers tasted sweet.

pemberkins - are you looking for accidental/incidental discoveries (off-originally-intended drugs) or trickle-down (Michael DeBakey's micro pump system for the space shuttle is an excellent design for artificial pediatric hearts)?
posted by porpoise at 10:34 PM on September 19, 2011


Best answer: Maybe not tech enough for you, and I'm fuzzy on the details of how intentional its usefulness to comp sci was, but Chomsky's linguistic work is rather controversial and somewhat dated (a lot of folks in the field reject it) but has arguably been most embraced and actually applied in computer programming.
posted by ifjuly at 4:58 AM on September 20, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions so far, everyone!

Porpoise - I'm more interested in trickle-down than in accidental discoveries.
posted by pemberkins at 5:06 AM on September 20, 2011


Response by poster: Oh, and ifjuly - "not tech" is fine, I love the Chomsky example!
posted by pemberkins at 5:07 AM on September 20, 2011


In my comment about anesthetics I left out that the work in fluorine chemistry I mentioned was part of the Manhattan Project; I am sure there are a lot of other technologies developed then that have been used elsewhere.
posted by TedW at 5:10 AM on September 20, 2011


I was hoping for a handy Wiki category or TVTropes page for such "spin-offs," but no luck. But I found this little site: Mistakes that Worked, which includes a few items not mentioned so far:

The Slinky, a(n attempted) torsion spring turned toy (I'm not sure if it functions to create torque when twisted).

There are a couple flying discs (Frisbees) that started as cake and pie pans.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:38 AM on September 20, 2011


Gunpowder was discovered by Chinese alchemists while searching for an elixir of immortality.
posted by Carius at 5:44 PM on September 20, 2011


Best answer: The Super Soaker was invented by Lonnie Johnson while he was designing a heat pump:

Earlier, around 1982, he was working on developing a heat pump that would work by circulating water rather than expensive and environmentally unfriendly freon. In his basement at home, he took some tubing with a specially devised nozzle on the other end and connected it to a bathroom sink. When he turned on the faucet, a stream of water shot out of the nozzle across the room with such force that the air currents caused the curtain to move. His first thought was "this would make a great water gun."
posted by Comrade_robot at 8:24 PM on September 20, 2011


Vibrators were originally designed to cure Victorian women of "hysteria".
posted by mkultra at 5:23 AM on September 22, 2011


I'm not so sure that the vibrator counts, mkultra, as it's not so much the INTENT that changed; but rather the way that we THOUGHT about the intent that changed. It always was the case that the cure for "hysteria" was "getting women off", which is what vibrators have always been designed to do.

The only thing that changed is we went from thinking "this is a medical tool designed to treat a medical condition" to thinking "oh, who are we kidding, this is something women can use to get off, who cares whether there's a medical reason for it or not".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:47 AM on September 22, 2011


You're hairsplitting what constitutes "side effect" vs. "core purpose". Take this sentence:
The only thing that changed is we went from thinking "this is a medical tool designed to treat a medical condition" to thinking "oh, who are we kidding, this is something women can use to get off, who cares whether there's a medical reason for it or not".
Swap out "men" for "women" and you have the origin of Viagra.
posted by mkultra at 11:46 AM on September 22, 2011


No, the difference is viagra was initially supposed to treat high blood pressure. It wasn't until people noticed that it was only doing mediocre as a hypertension drug -- but were getting erections easier -- that someone thought, "hey, wait a second."

Vibrators were always about giving women orgasms. Whether that orgasm happened in a doctor's office or in a bedroom was the only thing that changed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:48 AM on September 22, 2011


viagra wasVibrators were initially supposed to treat high blood pressure"hysteria". It wasn't until people noticed that it was only doing mediocre as a hypertension drug"hysteria" was total bullshit -- but were getting erectionsorgasms easier -- that someone thought, "hey, wait a second."

Vibrators wereViagra was always about giving women orgasms vasodilation. Whether that orgasmvasodilation happened in a doctor's officeheart or in a bedroomcock was the only thing that changed.
posted by mkultra at 5:28 AM on September 23, 2011


"vasodilaton" =/= "erectile dysfunction".

"giving a woman an orgasm" = "giving a woman an orgasm."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:20 AM on November 21, 2011


EmpressCallipygos: ""vasodilaton" =/= "erectile dysfunction"."

Vasodilation is what Viagra does to help men with their erectile dysfunction.
posted by mkultra at 6:40 AM on November 27, 2011


"Vasodilation is what Viagra does to help men with their erectile dysfunction."

But it was ORIGINALLY conceived as a drug to treat BLOOD pressure. It was NOT conceived as a drug to treat erectile dysfunction.

The whole question was about "hey, let's make something that does foo" and then they found out that "wait, it does baz even better. Let's abandon having it do foo and switch to having it do baz". In the case of Viagra, "blood pressure" is the "foo", and "erectile dysfunction" is the "baz". In the case of a vibrator, however, "giving a woman an orgasm" is both the "foo" AND the "baz", so it's not an example.

*turning to rest of room* Is anyone else getting my point, or am I just being remarkably unclear?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:35 AM on November 27, 2011


EmpressCallipygos: "In the case of a vibrator, however, "giving a woman an orgasm" is both the "foo" AND the "baz", so it's not an example."

This is where I think your logic gets skewed. With the vibrator, "curing hysteria" is the "foo", which it does by giving you an orgasm- the fact that "hysteria" is medical b.s. is besides the point. With Viagra, "erectile dysfunction" is the "foo", which it does by vasodilation.
posted by mkultra at 5:31 AM on November 28, 2011


This is where I think your logic gets skewed. With the vibrator, "curing hysteria" is the "foo", which it does by giving you an orgasm- the fact that "hysteria" is medical b.s. is besides the point.

Okay, I see why you're making the distinction you're making now.

I mean, I disagree (largely because, as you admit, "hysteria" is indeed medical nonsense), but I do understand why you're making the distinction you're making. I think we're on the same page.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:54 AM on November 28, 2011


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