Very often someone gets the bright idea to use an invention or product that was developed for one specific use, yet uses it for something entirely different. For example, hundreds of years ago, the Toltec people of Mexico discovered that if they boiled the sap from a certain tree, they could form it into a flexible ball and use it in a game. Years later, they also discovered that if they spread this sap on cloth it would waterproof it. These days we call it rubber; 25 percent of the world’s production is used to make tires and the other 75 percent is used to make thousands of other different products.

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