Archives: Useless Facts

Which actor starred in the films Con Air, Big Daddy and Armageddon?

The longest type of cell in the human body is the neuron – our nerve cells. Although their diameter (thickness) may vary from a tiny 4 thousandths (.004) of a millimeter to a tenth (0.1) of a millimeter, their length varies from a fraction of an inch to as much as several feet long.

What is the longest type of cell in the human body?

Scientists have estimated that the average temperature of a lightning bolt is about 27,700 degrees Celsius. Five times hotter than the temperature of the surface of the Sun, which is only 5,505 degrees Celsius!

How hot is lightning?

In 1933, the Soviet surgeon Yu Yu Voronoy performed the first human-to-human kidney transplant. The kidney was obtained about from a deceased donor about 6 hours after death but failed, most likely due to a mismatch of blood types. as transplanted across a major blood group mismatch probably accounted for its prompt failure. There were numerous attempts over the decades and most failed, usually within hours, weeks or sometimes months until 1954 when Joseph Murray led a team in performing the first successful kidney transplant using the recipient’s identical twin as the donor. Based on that success, Murray’s group performed another 12 kidney transplants in 1958 and although 11 didn’t survive longer than a month, one of them – the recipient of a fraternal brother’s kidney – survived for 20 years and represented the first time human kidney transplantation overcame the genetic barrier. In France, five months later, Jean Hamburger’s team were similarly successful with a fraternal twin transplant and the recipient lived for 26 years, passing away from unrelated causes.

What was the first organ successfully transplanted from a human body to a living person?

Construction of the Berlin Wall, a concrete barrier physically separating East Berlin from West Berlin was begun by East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) on August 13, 1961 and became a symbol of the “Iron Curtain” separating Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. In 1989, a series of revolutions, primarily in Poland and then in Hungary, caused a chain reaction and after weeks of protest, in November of 1989, the East German government began allowing GDR citizens to cross into West Berlin (and West Germany) and in the weeks that followed people began chipping away at it. Officially, demolition started on June 13, 1990, Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990, and the Berlin Wall (other than sections maintained as memorials), was completed in November 1991.

When did construction of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) begin and when was it demolished?

The youngest person appointed as chair of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff was General Colin Powell.