waking up

Of all the modern inventions we rely on in our daily lives, the alarm clock is probably the most universally despised. Its jarring morning jangles jolt us uncomfortably out of our slumber, and back to reality. And yet however annoying alarm clocks are, they’re also indispensable in getting us out of bed. That raises an interesting question: How did people wake up before alarm clocks became so ubiquitous? Throughout the ages, even the simple act of telling the time has presented a huge challenge to humans that we’ve tried to solve with elaborate inventions. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed … Read more