女生小视频

How would our tech development have gone if glass wasn鈥檛 transparent?

Readers point to other clear materials that could be used instead of glass, from plastics to crystals, though they bring new challenges

21 May 2025

Lola the Cat, behind a window, London

Tim Boddy

Last Word is New 女生小视频鈥檚 long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other鈥檚 questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com

What difference would it have made to our species’ technological development if glass wasn’t transparent?

Pat French
Longdon-upon-Tern, Shropshire, UK

As with any major innovation of long standing, we must assume that, in the absence of transparent glass, other avenues would have been explored to a similar degree for the various industries that employ glass today. Animal horn,…

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