As is so often the case with design, nature itself can claim ownership over the original idea. The first form of drinking straw manifested as the proboscis of insects like the butterfly, for drinking up liquid from wet soil and rotting fruit, as well as sucking up nectar from flowers.
So far as human design goes, the earliest recorded usage of a drinking straw dates back to the Sumerians and Babylonians. It is surmised that use of drinking straws goes back even further but the true origins are unknown. Dating back to 3000BC, the oldest known drinking straw was found in the tomb of Pu-abi, Sumerian Queen of Ur, in modern day Iraq. The regal straw is made of gold, measures over a meter long, features a silver mouth-piece, and is ornamented with segments of the vibrant blue stone, lapiz lazuli. As humans had not yet developed plastic, the Sumerians had to seal the straw of precious metal and stone in a tomb to ensure it would last as long as it has.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
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