intermodal containers transfer ships trains trucks

Shipping containers made global trade dramatically cheaper

Before standardized containers, cargo often had to be unloaded piece by piece whenever it moved between ships, trains and trucks. Containers allow goods to stay sealed inside the same metal box throughout the journey. That reduces handling, damage and delays. A simple standardized object helped transform the economics of global trade.

A short passage looks much longer

7 m → 30 m

At Rome’s Palazzo Spada, architect Francesco Borromini used columns that get smaller, a narrowing floor and a small statue to make a seven-meter passage appear thirty meters long.

The same physical feeling can become different emotions

In an experiment, people with the same physical arousal reported different emotions depending on how another person around them behaved. Some became angry while others were amused. The result suggests that bodily arousal alone does not decide which emotion we feel.

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intermodal containers transfer ships trains trucks

Shipping containers made global trade dramatically cheaper

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