World's First

ESA's Solar Orbiter deep-space probe has made history, returning the first-ever images of the Sun's south pole. It's a world first that sheds a great deal of light on the mysteries of our parent star, but it wasn't easy to achieve. Very far from it.

Researchers have developed the world’s first oral drug to target a form of cholesterol that has previously been untreatable and is largely caused by genetics, making it difficult to control by way of exercise, diet or other lifestyle factors.

Along with eating fish and seals, killer whales (aka orcas) are also known to hunt some types of whales. For the first time ever, however, there has now been a documented case of them killing the largest animal in the world – an adult blue whale.

In a world first, surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia have successfully transplanted a "dead" heart into a patient. Thanks to the use of a preservation solution, doctors were able to resuscitate and transplant the donor heart after it had stopped beating for up to 20-30 minutes.

Once Edmonton, Canada's new Waste-to-Biofuels Facility starts converting garbage into methanol and ethanol, it will be the world's first industrial-scale facility to do so. We recently got a guided tour of the place.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas At Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering have created the worlds first one-way acoustic circulator, a device which controls the direction of sound waves, allowing the user to hear without being heard.

Samoa Air has become the first airline in the world to charge passengers based on their weight.

Scientists in Japan create the world’s first computer that runs on live crabs.

Scientists have created the world's first biodegradable joint implant, which causes the body to regrow injured joint tissue.

The tiny town of Tenna in Switzerland has put itself on the eco-map by building an innovative solar-powered ski lift.

An 83-year old woman is the first in the world to receive a full 3D-printed titanium lower jaw implant.

Design firm BRC Imagination Arts has a zero gravity roller coaster proposal that's waiting for a US$50 million investment.