TOPIC: Applied science
#55: Stem cell therapies are already in use in the form of bone marrow transplants - the first of which was performed in 1956. read more
#60: A ban on performance-enhancing polyurethane swimming suits was implemented by FINA (the international governing body for swimming) on 1 January 2010, after 29 world records were set in the first five days of the FINA world championships in Rome 2009. read more
#63: The NHS aims to recruit and educate 4200 new health visitors in England between 2011 and 2015. read more
#71: Facilitating subjects at A level are those required more often than not for degree courses. They include biology, chemistry, maths, physics, geography, history and some languages. read more
#50: Radiology and pathology, which rely on visual interpretation (e.g. of X-rays), have low diagnostic error rates of about 2-5 per cent. In the higher-stress environment of A&E, the rate can reach 12 per cent. read more
#72: The world's largest brain bank is at Harvard, where there are over 7000 brains. read more
#69: In 2008, the UK produced 288 million tonnes of waste. Nearly 15 per cent of it came from households. read more
#68: In 2010, the UK medical biotechnology sector contained 942 companies that employed 36 700 people and had a combined turnover of £5.5bn. read more
#66: Staff and students at Askham Bryan College near York are working to create an 'ark' where the tansy beetle can feed on its sole food source, the tansy plant. read more
#65: The circulation figures for UK national daily papers fell by 21.5 per cent between January 2007 (11 824 647) and January 2012 (9 039 691). By contrast, online newspapers are booming: three national papers reported all-time web traffic highs in October 2011. read more
#64: There are two kinds of radiographers. Diagnostic radiographers help diagnose diseases or injuries, including broken bones, in hospitals and surgeries. Therapeutic (radiotherapy) radiographers use radiation to help treat people with cancer. read more
#62: The Brazilian footballer Socrates completed doctorates in medicine and philosophy. He was also a trained paediatrician. read more
#59: Extrapolating from current data, women will be finishing before men in the 100 m sprint at the 2156 Olympics. However, this ignores many factors that make this very unlikely, including that men and women may reach a physiological limit regarding sprint speed. read more
#54: Scientists have created a nanotechnology-based therapy that can repair brain damage and partially restore the eyesight of blind animals within a few weeks. read more
#53: Scientists have used carbon nanotubes and enzymes to create an antimicrobial coating that can kill MRSA with two hours of application. This could be used to paint the walls of hospitals and sterilise equipment. read more
#52: Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the creation of miniature machine parts made from DNA. It might be possible to use these to fix faulty cells. read more
#51: In personalised medicine, therapy is tailored to a patient's genetic make-up. One example is the drug vemurafenib, which blocks a protein that tis mutated in over half of cases of melanoma. read more
#49: Getting a diagnosis wrong can be harmful to a patient's health. One study found that diagnostic error is responsible for about 10 per cent of adverse events occurring in UK hospitals. read more
#48: It is estimated that around £300 million per year is wasted on prescription medicines that go unused in England. read more
#47: It is estimated that the global healthcare marketplace will be worth $1.3 trillion by 2020. read more
#46: 14 000: The estimated number of pills prescribed over an average lifetime. read more
#44: 38 274 cosmetic procedures were carried out in the UK in 2010. 90 per cent of these were on women. read more
#41: In a recent study of keyhole surgery, surgeons who played a musical instrument were significantly faster at suturing than those who did not. read more
#33: Research has found that people tend to associate sweet and sour tastes with high-pitched sounds and umami (savoury) and bitter tastes with low-pitched ones, and that people enjoy food more than 'matching' music is played during eating. read more
#31: Grapefruit juice contains compounds that block enzymes involved in metabolizing a range of drugs, so drug levels stay higher for longer. These drugs include calcium-channel blockers used to treat high blood pressure. read more
#22: Of the 1.42 million offenders that were sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales in 2006, 80 per cent were male. read more
#021: In 2008, 51.9 per cent of girls and 41.2 per cent of boys in the UK achieved two or more A levels or equivalent. read more
#13: The World Health Organization estimates that climate change is the cause of around 150 000 deaths and 5 million illnesses per year. This is expected to double by 2030. read more
#11: Chemotherapy can lead to hair loss because the hair follicle epithelial cells - like cancer cells - divide rapidly and, hence, are targeted by many anticancer drugs. read more
#10: The three leading global causes of premature death and disability in 2030 are projected to be HIV/AIDS, depression and ischaemic heart disease (where the blood supply to the heart is reduced). read more
#2: The hippocampus - a brain region involved in spatial navigation - is bigger than normal in London taxi drivers, who must pass 'The Knowledge', a test based on the city's layout. read more
