Ball bearings. Small, round and shiny; these ickle miracles are produced by earnest men in white coats who take the business of ball bearings very seriously indeed. After all, what use is a non-spherical ball bearing? You can find ball bearings in everything from bicycles to washing machines, the tips of pens to those annoying games where you have to tilt   the box to move the ball around a maze at the centre of which it'll fall down a hole ... blimey, what satisfaction. They were also over-used on those shiny executive toys so popular in the early eighties, like the Newton's Cradle, and in such situations totally belie their true potential to humankind. Find a ball bearing about 5mm in diameter and roll it between your finger and thumb as you stare into the middle distance. Not only do they make our lives run smoothly, they're truly satisfying too. ID

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