"Tools maketh man," so said Kenneth Oakley, the pre-historian. He meant that only human beings make tools of flaked stone. More generally, many species of animals make and use tools, both in nature and in natural captivity, from wasps to...

Until quite recently, tool use was considered to be a uniquely human behavior. Early anthropologists taught that the use of tools was limited to Homo sapiens and used the presence of tools as an indicator of the presence of humans. Even after tool use...

Tools and machines are almost universally thought of as beneficial, which would make their invention morally praiseworthy. Indeed, without tools it is difficult to see how human beings could survive, and the increasing adoption of machines shows that...

Just like mechanics and technicians on Earth, astronauts use a variety of manual and portable power tools in space to repair, service, and maintain spacecraft, like the space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS), and other satellites, like...

This is of interest in biological psychology for two reasons: the initiation of tool use marks an important point in the EVOLUTION of Homo sapiens (see HOMINID); and tool use by non-human animals is thought to reflect a degree of INTELLIGENCE. Tool use...

Device for making material changes on other objects, as by cutting, shearing, striking, rubbing, grinding, squeezing, measuring, or other process. A hand tool is a small manual instrument traditionally operated by the muscular strength of the user; a...

A tool or device is a piece of equipment which typically provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task, or provides an ability that is not naturally available to the user of a tool. The most basic tools are simple machines. For...