Tuesday, June 22, 2021

After doctors told the parents of a premature baby he had a 0% chance of survival, the infant beat all odds and reached his first birthday

Richard Scott William Hutchinson has been declared by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the most premature baby to ever survive. Medical complications forced his mother to go into labor early, and the child was born 5 months prematurely. Yet after 6 months in the hospital, the boy was discharged in December 2020. “I couldn’t believe this was the same little boy that once was so sick, that I feared he may not survive,” the Neonatologist treating Richard said. “I couldn’t help but squeeze him and tell him how proud I was of him.” (CNN)

A cryptocurrency investor woke up a Trillionaire but wasn’t able to cash out

Imagine going to sleep as an average, hard-working American only to wake up in the morning a Trillionaire. He said he sank about $20 into a cryptocurrency called Rocket Bunny and it might have lived up to its name, breeding like, well, bunnies rapidly overnight. When he attempted to move the cryptocurrency to another wallet, but it wasn’t showing the same price. That’s when contacted Coinbase which replied with a short answer acknowledging they were looking into the issue. He said he also tried to contact Rocket Bunny but never heard anything back. He has been expecting the large sum to go away at any time, but instead, it has been growing over the past few days. He did check to make sure he bought into the correct online coin since there are some scammers out there and did determine it was legitimate. He said if he really had money like that, he would end up doing what he has done most of his life which to help people. He would make sure his family is cared for, paying off his sisters’ homes, and maybe start free clinics. He he is sure the whole thing is a glitch and for now his account is frozen, so he cannot withdraw, purchase, or trade while he waits to hear back from the company. He said regardless of the outcome, this will make a great story for the future that for a few days in the summer of 2021, he was a Trillionaire. (Fox 5)

A study found that two mushrooms a day can cut your risk of cancer nearly in half

Eating 18 grams of mushrooms a day could lower the risk of cancer, a new study suggests. Individuals who eat two medium-sized mushrooms daily have a 45 per cent lower risk of cancer compared to those who do not eat mushrooms, according to Pennsylvania State University research. For centuries, Chinese medicine practitioners have used mushrooms, which are rich in vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants, as a treatment for illness including lung disease. (South China Morning Post)

The United States is pouring $3.2 billion into developing pills to treat patients at the onset of COVID-19 infections through its Antiviral Program for Pandemics

The new program will speed up clinical trials of promising drug candidates in hopes of having a treatment by the end of the year. After several unsuccessful trials of existing antivirals, scientist now know the best time to try to stop the virus is in the first few days of infection. The Department of Health and Human Services has taken its first step, announcing it will purchase 1.7 million doses of Merck’s antiviral drug, molnupiravir, if its current trial leads to FDA approval. (United States Department of Health & Human Services)

A “bee-friendly” urban wildlife program has helped protect wild bees from extinction in Germany

Cities including Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, and Leipzig have allocated over $1.78 Million to grow over 100 wildflower meadows over the past three years. These natural environments are helping Germany protect its wild bee population, which includes over 580 species of wild bees, more than half of those species are considered endangered or close to extinction. (The Guardian)

UPDATE: India grapples with rising number of Mucormycosis, or black fungus, cases; likely linked to the use of steroids to treat COVID-19 patients

The alarming surge in COVID-19 cases in India, coupled with the country’s oxygen shortages, prompted many doctors to resort to giving patients steroids in order to reduce inflammation in their lungs and ease breathing, sometimes to excessive levels. Only 33.6% of patients received steroids at “appropriate levels,” noted one study. The steroids could have compromised patients’ immune systems, increased blood sugar levels (particularly dangerous for diabetic patients), and even caused blood clots, leaving patients vulnerable to the fungus. Four out of five Mucormycosis patients have had Covid-19. More than half have diabetes. (The New York Times)

China launches first crewed flight to its new Tiangong space station

Three astronauts have arrived at China’s new space station. The Shenzhou 12 mission docked with Tianhe (“Harmony of the Heavens”), the Chinese space station core module, on Thursday (6/17), about 6 1/2 hours after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The three Shenzhou 12 astronauts will live on board the 54-foot-long Tianhe for the next three months, testing its various systems and getting the module fully up and running. (Space)

Physicists bring human-scale object to near standstill, reaching a quantum state

To the human eye, most stationary objects appear to be just that — still, and completely at rest. Yet if we were handed a quantum lens, allowing us to see objects at the scale of individual atoms, what was an apple sitting idly on our desk would appear as a teeming collection of vibrating particles, very much in motion. Now for the first time, scientists at MIT and elsewhere have cooled a large, human-scale object to close to its motional ground state. The object isn’t tangible in the sense of being situated at one location, but is the combined motion of four separate objects, each weighing about 40 kilograms. The “object” that the researchers cooled has an estimated mass of about 10 kilograms, and comprises about 1×1026, or nearly 1 octillion, atoms. The researchers took advantage of the ability of the Laser Interfrometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) to measure the motion of the masses with extreme precision and super-cool the collective motion of the masses to 77 nanokelvins, just shy of the object’s predicted ground state of 10 nanokelvins. Their results represent the largest object to be cooled to close to its motional ground state. The scientists say they now have a chance to observe the effect of gravity on a massive quantum object. (MIT News)

First-time homebuyers squeezed out

The housing market is so hot right now that half of existing-home buyers who used mortgages in April made at least a 20% down payment, according to a National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey. That level of upfront investment has only been seen three times over 10 years, all of them happening since last fall. NAR also reports a quarter of existing-home buyers paid cash in April, the highest level since 2017. Big down payments and other tactics, including more direct “whisper listings” to certain buyers, are squeezing out first-timers trying to find a home. (The Wall Street Journal)

1987 Buick GNX muscle car sold for record $275,000

A time capsule 1987 Buick GNX has set a new auction record for the model. The muscle car has just 8.7 miles on the odometer was sold for $275,000 at Barrett-Jackson’s Las Vegas auction. The black coupe is one of just 547 like it that were built and was one of the quickest cars in the world when it was new, thanks to a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine that could outgun the V8-powered cars of its day. Its 0-60 mph time, as tested by Car and Driver, was 4.6 seconds and bested only by the Porsche 911 Turbo’s 4.5 second sprint. The Vegas car is believed to be the lowest-mileage example and has spent its entire life on display and in storage. The auction price eclipses a previous record of $220,000 paid in 2017 for the 547th GNX produced. (Fox News)

New Space Telescope, GEOStare2, Goes Into Orbit

Thousands of images of Earth and space have been taken by a compact space imaging payload developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers and its collaborator Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. Known as GEOStare2, the payload has two space telescopes that together have taken more than 4,500 pictures for space domain awareness, astronomy, and Earth observations that have been transmitted back to Earth during the past month. The space telescopes were integrated into a Tyvak nanosatellite, weighing 25 pounds, that flew into orbit on May 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. To date, flying in low-earth orbit at 575 kilometers (or 360 miles altitude), GEOStare2 has taken more than 2,000 ground images of the Earth, as well as more than 2,500 images for space domain awareness and astronomy. (Scitech Daily)

Victoria’s Secret Ditching Famed ‘Angels’

It’s a massive image overhaul for the major brand. Out with the angels and in with “Collective.” Victoria’s Secret is revamping its image and featuring female ambassadors of more diverse backgrounds. Among its new faces, soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Victoria’s Secret’s Angels have been synonymous with the brand since the late 1990s. These women, who have included some of the world’s most famous models over the years, Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks, and Heidi Klum, to name a few, were the face of Victoria’s Secret through its marketing campaigns and annual runway shows. (Business Insider)

Navy explosion test for new aircraft carrier registers as minor earthquake in Florida

The U.S. Navy released footage of an explosive test off Florida’s coast that aimed to determine the durability of a new aircraft carrier. The USS Gerald R. Ford sat 100 miles east of Florida as the Navy set off a 40,000-pound explosive, just one of several planned tests. The aircraft carrier is the newest and most advanced one in the Navy. The ship closed out a successful 18-month period of tests and trials in April, finishing ahead of schedule for all planned improvements and maintenance. The explosion was so powerful that the United States Geological Survey measured a magnitude 3.9 on the Richter scale. The Navy conducts these Full Ship Shock Trials as the final stage before a ship deploys. (United States Navy)

Tuesday Comes With:

• Chocolate Eclair Day
• Columnists Day (4th Tuesday)
• HVAC Technicians Day
• Onion Rings Day
• Positive Media Day
• Stupid Guy Thing Day
• World Rainforest Day
• Worldwide VW Beetle Day

Historical Events

• 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat and capture Macedonian King Perseus ending the Third Macedonian War.
• 1593 – Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeat the Turks.
• 1813 – War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord sets out on a 30 kilometer journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon.
• 1893 – The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rams the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sinks taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet’s commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.
• 1898 – Spanish–American War: United States Marines land in Cuba.
• 1907 – The London Underground’s Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens.
• 1976 – The Canadian House of Commons abolishes capital punishment.
• 1978 – Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, is discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy.
• 2003 – The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska
• 2009 – Washington Metro train collision: Two Metro trains collide in Washington, D.C., USA, killing nine and injuring over 80.