Do you ever wonder how much of what we do you could figure out from scratch? Tying your shoe might seem simple now, but kids have trouble mastering the skill, and dreaming it up for the first time is ...

This story has been edited to correct the original, which incorrectly stated that Pieter van Musschenbroek was from Lieden, Germany. He was from Leiden, Holland. In 1827, a German physicist and ...