- [Speaker] We take a
lot of objects and items that we use every day for granted, but did you know some
of them have incredible, hidden components that
are actually designed to save your life? From secret details in planes and cars, the little known features on your phone, backpack and even pen lid. So let's get ready to find out
the true life saving purposes of the things hidden all around you. (upbeat music) Life saving spirals. How fast do you think this
aircraft engine is running? Is it at a high speed, a slow speed, or is it even running it all? While it might be tempting
to take a closer look, you should definitely stay back. Because even from 16 feet away, some jumbo jet engines like
this are powerful enough to suck hilariously heavy
items straight into them. But on a less funny note, how can ground crew tell
if they're in danger of being sucked in and sliced to ribbons? Well, just take a look at the spirals painted on the central
cones of the engine. When the engine is off, it looks like an unassuming
decorative detail, but when they're running, the spirals become obvious wide blurs, depending on the rotation speed. So it's pretty easy to see when it's a super spinning thread or not. Although it's not just ground crew, these spirals are designed to save. Major aircraft manufacturers argue that this design keeps birds
from flying into the engines when they're airborne, with the highest speed spirals
apparently scaring them away. Although you'd assume
the ear splitting noise of the aircraft alone would be enough, to keep them from thinking
it was a safe place to rest, but I guess evolution
works in mysterious ways. Brilliant bleed holes. Now, if you've ever sat in
the window seat of a plane, you've probably noticed the tiny hole at the bottom of your
quasi rectangular window. While a lot of people
don't think much of it, it's actually essential
for keeping you safe, when you're up in the air. It all comes down to cabin pressure, because the higher the plane climbs, the less oxygen there is. At a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet up, the air pressure is so low that anyone on the outside of the plane would almost immediately pass out. To prevent that from
happening inside the plane, the cabin is routinely pressurized. This is great for keeping the passengers and pilots conscious, but it's
not so good for the plane. The structure needs ways
of relieving the strain that all this pressure
puts on the aircraft, which is where those tiny holes called bleed or breather
holes come into the equation. If you look at a typical airplane window, you'll see it's made up
of three separate panes. The outer two layers
contain the difference between the pressure of
the cabin and the sky, while the pane with the bleed
hole allows for pressure to be balanced between the gap
and the panes in the cabin. Not only that, but they
also release moisture and minimize condensation that
otherwise block your view. So they save your life
and your holiday snaps. But before you go uploading
all those photos to Instagram, take a second to hit my Like
and Subscribe buttons below. I put up brand new content every day, filled with incredible facts and way fewer hashtags than the gram. Now, if you're done playing
around with all those filters, let's dive back into
even more hidden features that could one day save your life. Static wicks saviors. Now, if you've never
noticed the bleed holes in airplane windows, then you've probably never
spotted the weird wild like thing strapped onto the aircraft's wing either. While they look like someone plugged them out of a Harry Potter film, they're not using magic to
help the plane take off. You see, as a plane flies, it's constantly rubbing
against the particles in the atmosphere. This creates a buildup
of static electricity. The same thing that
accidentally gives people electric shocks or on purpose
if you're feeling naughty. This buildup tends to migrate to the trailing edges of the aircraft, but if all that electricity
builds up in one section, it could create a huge
spark and result in a fire. Like flying wasn't scary enough already. Jeez! But the static wicks work has pathways to drain the excess electrical
buildup from the plane back into the atmosphere. They also help dissipate the energy from many lightning
strikes that hit the plane, which is incredibly important, as planes are struck by
lightning about once a year. So if you're ever on a plane, traveling through a scary
looking storm cloud, magic won't save you. But those static wicks probably will. Secret escape brackets. Spirals, bleed holes, static wicks, could airplanes have any
more life-saving details that most people didn't know about? The answer is obviously yes. And another one can be
found out on the wing. Poking out of the metal sheeting, you can see several sets
of small yellow bumps dotted across the wing. If you've never seen them in use, then that's actually a good thing, because these are escape rope brackets, and they're only used when something seriously bad has happened, and the plane is forced to
make an emergency landing. In an event like this,
inflatable emergency slides automatically deploy from
almost every door on the plane, allowing passengers to slide to safety, but passengers on the wing
have the harrowing task of walking out onto the
wing to get to their slide. Although it isn't always that simple. In the event of a water landing, the wings are likely
to be wet and slippery, and the rocking of the plane, could see a survivor take a nasty tumble into the water below. To ensure no one is lost
to the waves this way, cabin crew secure an emergency
rope across the wing, using these escape brackets, giving survivors something to cling to, other than hope as they cross. So when you're booking
your next flight, remember, unless you're happy making
this James Bond style over wing exit, maybe
choose a seat further back. Winning whistles. We all have that one friend
who's a huge fan of a good hike, and it seems like they're
always trying to get you back in touch with a good old outdoors. As great as all their enthusiasm is, the outdoors isn't always
the safest place to be. From animal attacks, to health
issues and falling accidents, you're actually 6.4 times more
likely to die while hiking, than you are while skydiving. Suddenly that three-hour
trek into the wilderness is starting to sound much less appealing. But if you find yourself in
a tight spot, 127 hours down not all hope is immediately lost, depending on what kind
of backpack you have. Hidden in the buckles of
plenty of adventuring packs, are tiny ridge tubes that
double up as emergency whistles. (blowing whistle) It's an easy to reach essential that can help you attract attention, even if you're in a
bit of a one on tangle, like James Franco here. All you have to do is keep
your head and your arm, and whistle for help. Brilliant bicycle helmets. Just about any bicycle helmet
can protect your noggin, but why would you buy a helmet
with loads of holes in it? Surely if it's not
covering your entire head, then it won't be that effective, right? Well, actually wrong. These holes are primarily
used for ventilation, because you release about seven to 10% of your body heat through your head. But when you exercise, this can result in a super sweaty buildup that drips down under your eyes. Not only is it gross, but
it's insanely dangerous, if you can't see where you're going, but these holes also serve another ironically, accidental
safety function as well. During a study in 1990 into
the protective capability of bicycle helmet material, it was found almost by chance, that helmets with holes in them had a much better protective design. This is because the helmets
material has more space to move, allowing it to absorb a
greater amount of shock in comparison to full cover designs. So when a rider hits something
headfirst like a tree, the helmet's material can
spread out into these spaces and absorb more of the force
instead of the rider's head. While the rider will probably still have a few scrapes and bruises,
without that holey helmet, you could say that damage
would be a whole lot worse. Swiss Army headrests. Helmets aren't the only
accidental ingenious designs out there. Years ago, an internet
myth began circulating that car headrests were designed
to be detachable and sharp in order to break the car's
window in an emergency. Unfortunately, there was no real evidence to support this claim, because no car manufacturers or designers came forward to corroborate it. But it would take more
than that to stop people from trying this urban
legend out for themselves. Many brave window smashers have
attempted to show the world that a detached car
headrest can in fact be used as an emergency escape tool. From using brute force
to hammer the car window, to leveraging it on a pivot point to break the glass inside the door. While they definitely haven't been created with window mashing in mind, a plush headrest can genuinely be used to get yourself out of a sticky situation. Who knew headrests would turn out to be secret Swiss Army knives? Secret subway signals. The New York City Subway is
made up of the most stations in the world, but since it
was completed in the 1930s, very few changes have been made to the subway's mammoth infrastructure. So when it comes to safety, you might be wondering
what systems are in place to stop serious accidents. And one of those is simpler
than you'd ever believe. As a train pulls up to a station platform, the conductor will lean
out the window and point to a specifically placed black
and white board overhead. It's a simple gesture, that
all conductors repeat it every single platform they stop at, but it's crucial to the journey. Why? Because this signal alone
confirms that the platform is lined up alongside the
full length of the train before the conductor opens the doors. While it may not seem like a big deal, if the train would have
stopped anywhere else, bustling passengers would
likely step right out onto the electrified tracks. Yikes! That's enough to ruin anyone's commute. Stealthy smartphones. If you're in trouble calling
the emergency services should put you at ease. But there are some situations, where obviously reporting something can put you in danger
of becoming a target. Fortunately, Apple has
built a small feature into their iPhones to help you tiptoe around this exact situation. Holding down the side button
and one of the volume buttons of a model later than an
iPhone 7 will bring up the emergency SOS slider on the screen. You can drag it across to
call the emergency services or continue holding them
down to do so automatically. And for any model
earlier than an iPhone 7, you can rapidly click the
side or top button five times before dragging across the same slider. After the call ends any emergency contacts you have in your contacts list, receive a text message
with your current location and if your location changes,
they'll also get an update. But it's not just Apple
who are the secret heroes of the hour because the
Samsung galaxy phones also have a simple SOS feature. Once it's set up, all you have to do is click
the lock button three times to send an SOS message to
your emergency contacts with your location,
depending on its settings it'll also send a photo
recording or a voice message to provide more evidence of
what's going on around you. It may only save a few seconds, but in an emergency situations,
a few seconds can often be the difference between life and death. Silent protocol. Now, if you're trying not to
draw attention to yourself, calling the emergency services,
there's a good chance. You might not wanna be heard either. So how do you have a
conversation over the phone without speaking? It sounds impossible, but there are emergency service
protocols around the world that deal with these exact situations. If you're in the UK, for example, there's a silent solution
that operators look out for. If they can't hear your voice, they'll ask you to tap the handset or a cough to respond to their questions. They'll even give you a
prompt to press five, five, which automatically you to the police. Even if you still can't talk the police call handler
will attempt to communicate by asking yes or no questions
that can be answered by hitting buttons on the key pad. And it's not just the Brits
that use this silent solution. U.S. states like Maryland
and Massachusetts use a 911 silent call procedure where
callers can press buttons to answer yes or no questions and indicate what service they need. But over New York, you can simply text the
emergency services all by sending things like your location
and your status to 911. Although obviously don't
go sending them any emojis. Elevator express. Now imagine this, you live on the top floor
of a 30 story building and you've had a serious accident. You can't move, but you've managed to call
the emergency services. They're trying to get to
you as quickly as possible, but they have too much
equipment to use the stairs. On top of that some idiot in the elevator just hit all the buttons. So how did the emergency services get to you as quickly as possible? The secret is actually
inside the elevator. Emergency protocols are
programmed into most lifts of high rise buildings
that turn the elevator into an express ride to a specified floor. And how do they use them? And some cases, they just hold
down the closed door button, but in others, it's a
different combination of the floor number in closed door button. It saves time stopping at every floor, which could be the difference
between life and death. Or if you know the secret, it
can speed up any residents, right in and stop them from being late. But I can trust you not to
abuse that information, right? Hidden in the treads. Throughout most of the
United States and Europe, it's a legal requirement that
road using cars have tires with a tread depth of at
least 1.6 millimeters, which is only slightly
thicker than a penny. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but tires worn down lower than that Put you at a major risk of
skidding out of control. When you slam on those brakes. But without taking a
costly trip to the garage, how can you tell that it's
time to change your tires? It's near impossible to judge such a small measurement by eye alone, and it'd be a pain to
try and figure it out from a yardstick. Fortunately, most tires
have a hidden feature that can save you the
hassle and your life. If you take a close look, you'll find that your tires
have tread wear indicators. These are small horizontal rubber bars that are evenly spaced
across the central grooves. If the trend of your tire
is level with these bumps, it's time to get them changed pronto, unless you'd prefer to
ride in an ambulance. The secret of airplane locks. Can we all agree that the
worst place to feel ill is on an airplane. small Cramped with no
chance of getting off until you've arrived. What have you lock
yourself in the airplane, lavatory and then suddenly faint or worse, have a heart attack. Considering these cubicles
don't have a master key opening. How are cabin crew meant to get to you? Or do you just have to
wait until you land? Is anyone else panicking right now? Fortunately, the brainiacs that design some of these
aircraft have thought all these scenarios through. At first glance, those metal lavatory signs
don't look out of the ordinary, but some of them are actually
hiding a secondary override lock designed to open
the door from the outside to help passengers in need. Should the worst happen to
them on the mile high Job. Bright blue reflectors. Driving along a stretch
of American asphalt at night might not spot the red, white, and yellow reflector
stretched along the road, but they're not just there to look pretty. Yellow reflectors usually
lie in the center of the road white separates the
lanes and red indicates the edge of the road or whether
you're going the wrong way. But every now and again, a blue reflector might catch your eye. And unlike the others, its placement doesn't seem to
follow any kind of pattern. Yet as sporadic as their placement seems. They're actually some of the
most important reflectors of all that's because these
tiny blue reflectors indicate to firefighters that
there's a hydrant nearby and their placement on the road, which is usually left or
right of the central line shows which side of the road it's on. It saves the fire crews from
scrambling around in the dark, trying to find the nearest hydrant, giving them more time to
put out any fatal fires. Brake light locks. Have you ever been out on the
road in dark or bad weather? When all of a sudden a car in front of you with broken brake lights
slammed to a halt, most drivers will understand
that this is one of the most terrifying and dangerous
things that can happen out on the road. Without those essential
brake lights emergency stops can turn into rear-end
crashes that can be fatal. But while it's illegal
to drive without them, that doesn't stop the
occasional idiot from doing so, which is exactly why some
car manufacturers decided to take the matter into their own hands. Many automatic car models
have an inbuilt transmission parking lock system also
called a parking pawl. These tiny devices lock the
shifter of automatic cars in the park position if the system detects a fault and any important linked
elements like brake lights, this super small feature keeps
these dangerous vehicles off the road until they're fixed
and saves other road users from driving up the wall. Has anything like this
ever happened to you? Let me know down on the comments. Expiration enigma. Expiration dates around
just about everything from food to makeup and even medicine, but while eating something or
applying a cream a few days out of date, won't kill you, expired medicine can
cause a real headache. Once those pills hit that date, the manufacturer can no
longer guarantee the potency or safety of the drug
you're taking even worse if they're not labeled properly, they can be illegally sold
on to vulnerable people, but who really looks at the
expiration date on pill packets? Not enough of us, apparently, which is why the doctor and designer team of Gautam & Kanupriya Goel came up with this ingenious designed
for self expiring packaging. From the second it's printed the paper the packaging is printed on changes slowly over a set period of time. Once the medicine is expired, it's practically impossible
to read what it is let alone assume it's safety use with all those big Xs everywhere. Well, it's currently just a concept. The world might soon be a
place where no one has to guess whether or not a medicine is safe to take. Pen lid lockdown. There's probably not a person alive who hasn't used a Bic pen. While their ballpoint tip
is a nifty innovation. The holes in their camps don't
seem as ingeniously designed. You've probably never given it
much thought, or if you have, you've probably brushed it
off as some random feature that stops the ink from drying out, but it actually serves an
unimaginably important purpose for all the avid pen chewers out there. Reducing the risk of choking
deaths, accidentally swallowing a pen lid and getting it
caught in your throat is a real risk and roughly a
hundred people in the U.S. die every year from doing so. Although that number used to be much, much higher until BIC and other
pen manufacturers introduced this life saving design
in the early 1990s. They added that small hole in
the lid to allow air to pass through in the event that
they're swallowed by curious kids or adult idiots. It's just wide enough to let
them breathe on their way to the emergency room, but seeing how unpleasant that sounds, maybe you should just resist
the urge to put that pen cap in your mouth. Lego head hazards. Any parent will tell you that
kids put just about anything they can get their tiny little
hands on in their mouths. That's why toy boxes are
usually plastered with those recommended age and
choking hazard warnings. But sometimes kids are still
able to get their hands on the tiniest tastiest
looking parts like Lego heads, as it turns out the tops of
these iconic mini figures are apparently irresistible
to little ones, but the design team at
Lego have thankfully thought this through. Lego added in that strange little hole in the yellow heads, in case any tiny, tiny ever got one con their
throat should one ever get frighteningly lodged in their windpipe. The hollow head would
effectively act as a tube, allowing the child to
breathe safe as they may be. I bet watching a kid swallow, a Lego head is enough to
make a parent lose theirs. So tell me which of these
everyday details have you spotted before and have any of
them ever saved your life? Let me know in the comments
below and thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
