From a mixture of snow and honey emperors enjoyed in palaces to ice lollies sold at street corners, and from homemade concoctions to mass-produced slabs, ice cream has had a delectable journey, picking up many ingredients, textures and flavours on the way.

Posted: March 13, 2016

It wasn’t one single eureka moment that led to the invention of air conditioners. It looks like many inventive minds dreamed up the idea, often simultaneously, and for different reasons. Without wading into the ‘who first’ controversy, here’s raising a toast to all those pioneers.

Posted: October 6, 2015

If ancient Egyptians used passive evaporative cooling with porous pots of water and damp curtains, the Arabs took it a step forward with wind catchers and muscatese window designs to keep their living quarters cool

Posted: March 5, 2015

So the Romans had hypocausts and frigidariums and the Koreans had ondols. And the Indus Valley Civilisation may have predated them all when it came making indoor air behave itself. But wait, the Egyptians were pretty cool too!

Posted: February 5, 2015