How cat's eyes were invented
In 1934, the late Percy Shaw almost crashed while driving home from the pub on a foggy night in West Yorkshire, in England. He was saved when his headlights were reflected in the eyes of a cat and it ...
25 Nov 20229min
The corruption and sodomy trials of Anwar Ibrahim
On 20 September 1998, the former deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested and charged on suspicion of committing fraud and sodomy. Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia but charge...
24 Nov 202210min
When Sweden’s roads went right
In September 1967, all Swedish traffic had to change the habit of decades and swap to driving on the right-hand side of the road.It brought them into line with most of the rest of Europe except for Br...
23 Nov 20229min
First women’s minister in Iran
Iran’s first ever minister for women’s affairs was appointed in 1975. Mahnaz Afkhami was the first person in the Muslim world to hold that position. While she was in that role, the government granted ...
22 Nov 20228min
The invention of the seat belt
In 1958, the late Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars.It's estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world.Rachel Naylor speaks to Nils' ste...
21 Nov 20229min
Qatar's first female published author
In 1978, Kaltham Jaber published her first book – a collection of short stories. She is an assistant professor and acclaimed writer from Qatar. Her success as an author came just two decades after gir...
18 Nov 202210min
First Emirati female teacher
It was rare for women in what is now the United Arab Emirates to go to school in the 1960s. At the time, the future country was a collection of emirates under British protection. The Sheikdoms were tr...
17 Nov 202210min
Inventing robot camel jockeys
In 2003, a Qatari engineer came up with the idea for a robot jockey, to replace child jockeys in camel racing.Two years later, the robot was approved for use. The tiny gadgets, which wear caps and hol...
16 Nov 202210min
