10 Accidental Inventions That Changed The World

From plastic and potato chips to matches and microwaves, these strokes of scientific serendipity have had a big impact on our lives. 

 The course of human evolution has been punctuated by a long succession of chance discoveries and accidental inventions; and in fact, experts estimate that between 30 and 50 percent of of all scientific discoveries are in some way accidental. The ability to swiftly recognize the utility in something unexpected is one of the profound things that sets us apart from other animals. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen; some serendipitous discoveries have spawned such staggering success that they’ve become a bit unwieldy. (Hello, plastic and antibiotics.) But whether banes or boons, the following accidental inventions from the past two centuries have changed the world in one way or another.

10 Of The World's Biggest Unsolved Mysteries

Few stories have the power to captivate us more than those that remain unresolved. Codes, puzzles and cryptic public art tease us with their intrigue: Why is their message coded? What great secrets might they hide? Despite the efforts of our most revered historians, cleverest cryptographers and most determined treasure hunters, history is replete with riddles that continue to confound us today. Fictional tales like those featured in “The Da Vinci Code” and the movie “National Treasure” have got nothing on these real-life puzzles. Here's our list of 10 of the world's most cryptic unsolved mysteries and codes.

Unsolved Mysteries Of The Past

Neither one of us to unravel these mysteries, most likely, never will be able to:

shepherd's monument

This monument is located in Staffordshire (England) and now 250 years old is haunted by lovers of puzzles to solve. The fact that it bears the strange sequence of letters DOUOSVAVVM, which is not given to decipher. Fought over this encryption of such great minds as Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin.

Author inscription is unknown, but there is speculation that it had been left by the Knights Templar, and in it lies a clue as to the location of the Holy Grail.