10 Things We Learnt In July, 2024

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Here at Gowing Life, we are keeping our fun record of everything we learn in 2024, be it longevity-related or something else entirely. Here is a selection of our newly acquired neural connections for the month of July!

1: Backpack-wearing dogs are being employed to help rewilding efforts in the East Sussex town of Lewes. By filling the backpacks with seeds, it’s hoped that the dogs will act like wolves once did, spreading seeds as they explore.

2: People who are born blind do not get schizophrenia, while people who go blind later in life are more likely to get schizophrenia than those with normal vision. Scientists have hypothesised that when people are born blind, the areas of the brain that would have been dedicated to vision are instead used in a way that is protective against schizophrenia. On the other hand, impairments in visual perception later in life seem to contribute to schizophrenic hallucinations.

3: This is the optimal way to pack 11 squares inside the smallest possible larger square. The square packing problem is one of the rarer examples of mathematics producing highly asymmetrical and deeply unappealing results.

4: You’ve heard of an earthquake, but have you heard of a starquake? It’s when the crust of a neutron star undergoes a small but extremely abrupt adjustment. The largest starquake was recorded in 2004, from a neutron star 42,000 light years away called SGR 1806−20. It was so powerful that it released more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun releases in 150,000 years. Such an event within 10 light years of Earth would be capable of causing a mass extinction event. Fortunately, the closest similar star that we know of is 9,000 light years away.

5: Guédelon is a castle in Northern Burgundy, in France, but not just any castle. Construction of Guédelon began in 1997, and it is being built exclusively using tools and methods that would have been available in the 13th century. That means using tools forged by blacksmiths and stone mined using ancient techniques. Even the paint is made using medieval recipes.

6: Chainsaws were originally invented for surgery in the late 18 century. A small chainsaw allowed bones to be cut without causing as much damage to surrounding muscle and blood vessels as a conventional saw.

7: In 1965, a patent was filed for a device that would help ‘civilised’ women give birth – by spinning them until the baby flew out.

8: Some chicks hatch yellow because of xanthophylls – a type of plant pigment that is transferred to the egg yolk through the diet of the chick’s mother, and then to the chick’s down. Despite this, not all chicks are yellow when they hatch.

9: According to this study, mosquitoes prefer biting people who have recently eaten a banana. Grapes, vitamin B12 and garlic do not appear to affect attractiveness to mosquitoes.

10: The Isle of Man TT, an annual motorcycle race on public and rural roads, is considered the deadliest race in the World. How deadly? 2024 is the first year since 2000 in which no one has died during the race. Here’s footage of the fastest ever lap: