Six Science Posts - #76

Universal blood, Chipotle data science, spud stats and more

Author

Harshal Chhaya
June 08, 2025

Six tweets that celebrate engineering and all things STEM.

Hello new and not-so-new friends! 👋 

I scroll so you don’t have to.

Reader and friend FF sent this amazing photo a couple of days back.

This is a fantastic photo capturing a dragonfly that has just completed its metamorphosis

This is an adult dragonfly that has freshly emerged. Its wings are still slightly soft and glistening, indicating it’s in the final stage of emergence, drying and preparing for flight.

On FF’s hand below it is the exuvia, which is the cast-off exoskeleton from the dragonfly’s nymph stage. Dragonflies spend most of their lives as aquatic nymphs before climbing out of the water onto a vertical surface (like FF’s hand!) and molting into their adult, winged form.

The transformation from nymph to adult, takes only a short time and is rarely witnessed this closely. Beautiful timing!

Thanks FF for sharing this with us.

Now on to the six posts in this issue…

#1 🤯 

Japanese scientists developed artificial blood that’s universal and shelf-stable for up to two years. In trials, it saved animals from deadly blood loss—no matching, no refrigeration needed. Clinical testing begins soon, and the future of emergency care could be synthetic:

Details: https://thebrewnews.com/thebrew-news/world/universal-artificial-blood/

#2 🤯 

Always-handy cameras are less than 30 years old. And they have transformed how we take, store and review photos.

#3 🤯 

True. And it’s all wireless!

#4 🤯 

This is 127 pounds - so slightly less than the average human but still fairly close.

I love these connections! 😀 

#5 🤯 

Excellent use of statistics to prove a point! The bowls were a bonus side-effect.

#6 🤯 

A good way to describe discrete vs continuous surfaces

About

This newsletter is my way of sharing interesting science-related news with my curious friends. I enjoy finding science and math connections in our world.

Please share this newsletter with others. Let’s encourage curiosity.

- Harshal (@hschhaya on X/Twitter)

This is issue #76. 76 is:

  • a square-prime, of the form (p2 *q) where q is a higher prime. Because 76 = 4 x 19

  • an "automorphic number". It is one of two 2-digit numbers whose square, 5,776, and higher powers, end in the same two digits. The other is 25.

  • 76 is the atomic number of Osmium (from Ancient Greek 'smell') - a chemical element with symbol Os. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group. Osmium is the densest naturally occurring element. When experimentally measured using X-ray crystallography, it has a density of 22.59 g/cm3. Osmium is among the rarest elements in the Earth's crust, making up only 50 parts per trillion (ppt).

  • The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

That’s it for this issue.

Hit ‘reply’ to tell me what you think.

And hit ‘forward’ to share with your friends and family.

Let’s all celebrate science and engineering and curiosity.

Best wishes,

Harshal