The Net At 40 All Things Considered is exploring the people and ideas behind what we now call the Internet. How has the Internet changed us, and what does the future hold?

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Thank Sex For Making The Internet Hot

March 7, 2010 • Online shopping, chat rooms, streaming video — guess what pioneered these technologies for the mainstream Web.

How Flash Brought The Internet To Life

January 24, 2010 • If you've ever wasted time at work watching a YouTube video or playing an online game, you can thank a man named Jonathan Gay for the animation software that revolutionized the Web.

Internet Memes Spread Viral Amusement

December 26, 2009 • From the moment a Carnegie Mellon researcher figured out that a colon and a parenthesis could make a face, the Internet has provided its own unique additions to popular culture. Lolcats, Rickrolling and Star Wars kid are just a few examples of an entirely new form of culture that came into its own over the past decade.

Domain Name Creator Made Sites Easier To Recall

December 12, 2009 • When you type a Web address into that little window — our personal favorite, npr.org, for example — you should give thanks to the man who made it so easy: Dr. Paul Mockapetris.

The 'Wild And Woolly' World Of Bulletin Boards

November 21, 2009 • These days, if you want to find a fling, a friend or a cheap used sofa, you might check craigslist. But decades before Craig Newmark posted his first list, computer users all over the country were connecting through electronic bulletin boards.

The Man Who Made You Put Away Your Pen

November 15, 2009 • When was the last time you actually set pen to paper and mailed off a personal letter to someone? It's probably been awhile — and the man responsible is Ray Tomlinson. In 1971, Tomlinson changed the way the world communicated when he invented e-mail.

'Lo' And Behold: A Communication Revolution

Charley Kline (left), working at UCLA, sent the first transmission over ARPANET to Bill Duvall at the Stanford Research Institute. Guy Raz/NPR hide caption

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Guy Raz/NPR

'Lo' And Behold: A Communication Revolution

October 29, 2009 • The Internet began with a whimper, not a bang. And not everyone agrees on when that whimper occurred. But 40 years ago Thursday, the first communication over a computer network called ARPANET was sent — a message that said simply "lo."