Less known Science facts.

All Science Facts

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  1. Pure water (H2O) does not conduct electricity on its own.
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  2. Daizi Zheng, a Chinese designer, made a Coca-Cola powered cell phone. She designed a battery that uses enzymes to generate electricity from the carbs.
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  3. Diamonds can be shattered with a hammer.
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  4. Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.
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  5. Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body.
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  6. 0.3% of solar energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole of Europe.
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  7. Oak trees produce 2,200 acorns in a season, but each acorn only has a 1 in 10,000 chance of becoming an oak tree.
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  8. Scientists aren't sure what color dinosaurs were.
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  9. The only letter not appearing on the Periodic Table is the letter "J".
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  10. The earth is approx. 6,588,000,000,000,000,000 tons.
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  11. The brain case [of Neanderthals] on the average was more than 13 percent larger than that of the average of modern man
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  12. Your brain is 80% water.
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  13. When you walk down a steep hill, the pressure on your knees is equal to three times your body weight.
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  14. The weight of a carat (200 milligrams), standard unit of measurement for gemstones, is based on the weight of the carob seed.
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  15. The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.
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  16. The storage capacity of human brain exceeds 4 Terrabytes.
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  17. The hair of an adult man or woman can stretch 25 percent of its length without breaking.
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  18. The Earth's atmosphere weighs about 5.5 quadrillion tons.
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  19. The banana tree cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.
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  20. The average temperature at 40,000 feet above sea level is -60 F.
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  21. Stannous fluoride, which is the cavity fighter found in toothpaste is made from recycled tin.
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1998..Nobel Prize for medicine and Physiology.

Robert F. Furchgott

Louis J. Ignarro

Ferid Murad

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998 was awarded jointly to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad "for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system".

Importance in medicine today and tomorrow
Heart: In atherosclerosis, the endothelium has a reduced capacity to produce NO. However, NO can be furnished by treatment with nitroglycerin. Large efforts in drug discovery are currently aimed at generating more powerful and selective cardiac drugs based on the new knowledge of NO as a signal molecule.

Shock: Bacterial infections can lead to sepsis and circulatory shock. In this situation, NO plays a harmful role. White blood cells react to bacterial products by releasing enormous amounts of NO that dilate the blood vessels. The blood pressure drops and the patient may become unconscious. In this situation, inhibitors of NO synthesis may be useful in intensive care treatment.

Lungs: Intensive care patients can be treated by inhalation of NO gas. This has provided good results and even saved lives. For instance, NO gas has been used to reduce dangerously high blood pressure in the lungs of infants. But the dosage is critical since the gas can be toxic at high concentrations.

Cancer: White blood cells use NO not only to kill infectious agents such as bacteria, fungi and parasites, but also to defend the host against tumours. Scientists are currently testing whether NO can be used to stop the growth of tumours since this gas can induce programmed cell death, apoptosis.

Impotence: NO can initiate erection of the penis by dilating the blood vessels to the erectile bodies. This knowledge has already led to the development of new drugs against impotence.

Diagnostic analyses: Inflammatory diseases can be revealed by analysing the production of NO from e.g. lungs and intestines. This is used for diagnosing asthma, colitis, and other diseases.

NO is important for the olfactory sense and our capacity to recognise different scents. It may even be important for our memory.