Sunday, July 13, 2025
FACTS AND FIGURES
Illustration of an early xenotransfusion from lamb to man, from Matthias Gottfried
Purmann’s Grosser und gantz neugewundener Lorbeer-Krantz, oder Wund Artzney . . .
Zum andern Mahl vermehrt heraus gegeben (1705).
June 15
The first successful transfusion of blood into a human was performed on this day in 1667. The blood donor was a sheep, and the supervising doctor was a French physician named Jean-Baptiste Denys. He put a small amount — about 12 ounces — of sheep's blood into a 15-year-old boy, who survived the procedure. He repeated his experiment on another man and was again successful, but when he tried to increase the amount of blood actually transfused for his third and fourth patients, they died, and the practice of animal-human blood transfusions was outlawed in 1670.
It was believed at that time that volatile, hot-tempered people could be calmed by giving them the blood of a docile animal, like a sheep or cow, but there were concerns about long-term changes and mutations in the patient. Would he end up with a sheep's head? Samuel Pepys mused in his diary about the possibilities: "This did give occasion to many pretty wishes, as of the blood of a Quaker to be let into an Archbishop, and such like." It was generally agreed upon that humans should only receive transfusions of human blood, but the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion didn't occur until 1818, due to lack of understanding about blood type compatibility.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Wednesday, July 02, 2025
Tuesday, July 01, 2025
TECH WATCH
Switzerland is turning train tracks into power plants — without halting a single train.
In a game-changing move for sustainable infrastructure, Swiss startup Sun-Ways is deploying removable solar panels directly between railway tracks. Trains keep running, and clean energy keeps flowing.
✅ No extra land needed
✅ No disruption to rail services
✅ Zero visual pollution
This approach could produce over 1 terawatt-hour of electricity annually, potentially powering over 200,000 homes — all by reimagining the space we already have.
In a world battling land scarcity and climate urgency, Switzerland offers a masterclass in innovation: you don’t need new space — just a new mindset.
Imagine this tech on India’s railway grid. Or the U.S. Northeast Corridor.
The energy potential is global.
#RailwayRevolution #SolarTracks #SwissEngineering #CleanEnergyNow #SunWays #EnergyInnovation #SmartSustainability #ClimateAction
Thursday, June 26, 2025
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