Anecdotes from page 28 and page 126 of Sönke Ahrens' book, "How to Take Smart Notes." (Here).
NASA
NASA tried to figure out how to make a ballpoint pen that works in space. If you have ever tried to use a ballpoint over your head, you have probably realized it is gravity that keeps the ink flowing. After a series of protypes, several test runs, and tons of money invested, NASA developed a fully functioning, gravity-independent pen, which pushes the ink onto the paper by means of compressed nitrogen. According to this study, Russians faced same problem. So they used pencils.
WW2 Bombers
We can make it a habit to sense what is not in the picture, but could be relevant. One of the most famous figures to illustrate this skill was was mathematician Abraham Wald. During World War II, he was asked to help the Royal Air Force find the areas on their planes that were most often hit by bullets, so they could cover them with more armor. But instead of counting the bullet holes on the returned planes, he recommending armoring the plans where none of the planes had taken any hits. Royal Air Force/RAF had forgotten to take into account what was not there to see: All the planes that didn't make it back.
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NASA story attributed to De Bono, "Simplicity," 1998. Staples now carries inexpensive Uniball "AIR" pressure pens.
Bomber story attributed to Mangel & Samaniego, 1984. Abraham Wald's Work; J Amer Statist Assoc. Here.
