The RECC’E - DAY 90 | MAR 31 | MISSING LINK

Day 90 / 365

133YEARS ago today the Eiffel Tower officially opened in Paris. Built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300m high it retained the record for the tallest man made structure for 41 years. 

RECC’E OF THE DAY

2MINUTES is how quickly someone suffering from severe blood loss can bleed out. Now scientists have discovered a cluster of cells in the brain stem responsible for controlling the bodies response to this type of trauma. 

10PINTS of blood in the human body are usually regulated by neurons which manage pressure during ‘normal’ blood loss but once bleeding is severe these neurons become inactive - resulting in cardiovascular collapse. Now scientists have now figured out a way to re-activate these neurons in lab rats suffering severe blood loss - restoring both blood pressure and heart rate. A discovery that could save countless lives in the future.  

NEED-TO-KNOW

15YEARS since scientists started developing body tissue clearing methods - a technique to achieve transparency, primarily to trace nerve connections within the brain - they have now unveiled a breakthrough method which appears applicable to other parts of the body for the 1st time. They have been able to render large biological samples transparent, a discovery that could speed up the study of numerous diseases.

308MILLION years ago a tiny snake-like animal had evolved to lose its arms but retain its legs, a discovery which has emerged from from scientists studying 2 ancient reptilian fossils. Why is this significant? Because the creature may now represent a transitional species between land vertebrates and snakes.

SHOULD-KNOW

8WORLD CHAMPION bridge players have been outplayed by AI in a world first - 67 times out of 80 to be precise, an 83% success rate against the same cards and the same opponents. This represents a new milestone for AI because unlike chess, in bridge players work with incomplete information and must react to the behaviour of several other players – a scenario far closer to human decision-making.

14DAY lead time in producing engineered immune cells for cancer immunotherapy has now been drastically shortened by a revolutionary new technique which can produce the cells in just 24 hours. A remarkable improvement with the potential to change cancer treatment globally. 

3MINUTES to begin working and lasting up to 12 hours - the FDA has approved specialized contact lenses filled with medicine to deliver an antihistamine to wearers in a bid to relive itchy eyes. The technology might someday allow people to treat numerous eye problems by simply wearing drug-releasing contacts.

GOOD-TO-KNOW

4.3MILE HIGH peaks on former planet Pluto have now in fact been revealed as giant ice volcanoes suspected to be spewing out not lava but vast quantities of icy slush. Their discovery has reignited another debate: what could be keeping Pluto warm enough to support volcanic activity? After all, the average surface temperature on Pluto is about 40 Kelvin or -233 C.

12.9BILLION years ago - only 900m years after the Big Bang - a star named Earendel produced light which has only just reached our Hubble telescope - becoming the most distant star ever detected and beating the previous record of 9 billion years by quite a margin. As with many stars, the light is so old by the time it reaches us that we dont know if the star still exists, it could have died millions of years ago.

 

SIGN-OFF STAT

0.3%OF THE LIGHT falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts would be enough to meet all of Europe’s energy needs. The intense sunlight of the Sahara Desert can generate three times the electricity than the electricity generated from all solar energy sources in Northern Europe.

  

   

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