World Records

The insect considered to be the most bioluminescent is the firefly (Pyrophorus noctilucus) which has been documented as having a surface brightness of 45 millilamberts. The light emitted by fireflies (which are actually beetles, not flies) is unique as almost 100% of the energy is given off as light. In a lightbulb only 10% of the energy is light with the other 90% given off as heat. A lambert is a unit of luminescence and equals 3,183 candelas/m² A millilambert equals 3.183 candelas/m² A candela Continue reading →

Donald Gorske of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA consumed his 23,000th McDonald’s Big Mac on 17 August 2008.  He is now in his 37th consecutive year of eating Big Macs on a daily basis.

Unlike squids, which include many bioluminescent species, the only significantly bioluminescent species of octopus is a red deepwater species from the eastern USA called Stauroteuthis syrtensis. Its bioluminescent ability remained unknown to science until 1997, when Edith Widder (USA) of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, Florida, USA studied a live specimen captured in the Gulf of Maine; when dark, the specimen presented a row of sucker-like structures running the length of each of its tentacles glowing blue-green and emitting most light at 470 Continue reading →

The most blood donated was 315 whole blood units by John W. Sheppard (USA) who made the latest donation in Florida, USA, in May 2011. John W. Sheppard hopes that his experience might be an incentive to promote the positive aspects of blood donations by healthy individuals without any adverse affects to their health and meeting the standards of the government, national, state and international Blood associations.

Richard Burke (USA) donated his 1,411th unit of blood on his 1,193rd blood donation visit made on 4 June 2004. This is equivalent of 634.95 litres (139.6 gal/167.73 US gal). He has been donating blood since 14 January 1975. Apheresis – A procedure in which blood is collected, part of the blood such as platelets or white blood cells is taken out, and the rest of the blood is returned to the donor. Also called pheresis. the components which are separated and withdrawn include: Plasma Continue reading →

The most blocks in an NBA career is 3,830, in 1,238 games by Hakeem Olajuwon (USA) playing for the Houston Rockets from 1984-2001 and the Toronto Raptors 2001-02.