First test tube baby Louise Brown was grown in a JAR

Three decades after the first test tube baby Louise Brown was born in Britain, scientists have revealed she was actually grown in a JAR.

The startling discovery has come to light at Cambridge University, after the glass vessel was put on public display there for the first time.

It is one one of just two remaining glass incubator jars used by IVF pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Robert Edwards to start creating life outside the womb.

Louise was placed as an embryo in a culture dish and then transfered to an incubator jar

The football-sized jar was used to grow Ms Brown in 1978 and since then IVF babies have colloquially become known as test tube babies.

But in fact the early in vitro fertilisation process involved placing an embryo in a culture dish and putting that inside an incubator jar.

July 26, 1978 shows Louise Brown, after she was delivered by Caesarean section at Oldham District General Hospital

The jar was then put in an incubator chamber at 37 degrees, where it was monitored regularly.

'It looks like an ordinary glass jar but it has become extraordinary because it has played such an important role,' said Barry Phipps, curator of the exhibition at Cambridge University's Churchill College.

'It has never been seen in public before so it's an absolute thrill to have it here.

'I think they used glass jars to start with as they were a lot cheaper than other devices.

'It was a very experimental science so they had to do everything they could to keep the costs down.

'Technology has of course developed since so glass jars are no longer used in the process.'

The incubator jar is part of an exhibition marking 50 years of scientific discovery at Churchill College.

A DNA model signed by another Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick is also on show at the college as well as a wealth of historical and contemporary scientific notebooks, illustrations and drawings.

The college boasts an incredible 26 Nobel Prize winners, including Robert Edwards who is a Fellow and won his award last week for his IVF work.

IVF family: (left to right) Robert Edwards, Lesley Brown, with her daughter Louise Brown, 30, with her own son Cameron who was born naturally

Mr Edwards, an 85-year-old Cambridge physiologist and the late Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologic surgeon, developed IVF technology in which egg cells are fertilised outside the body and implanted in the womb.  

The pair founded the first ever IVF clinic at Bourn Hall in Cambridge, which now treats around 900 women a year.

Their achievement was finally recognised when Mr Edwards was awarded the Nobel prize for Chemistry - Mr Steptoe died in 1988.

More than 10,000 test tube babies have been born since the birth of Louise Brown and there are now four million IVF babies worldwide. 

Mr Edwards is still in touch with Louise. ‘He is like a grandad to me,’ she said in an interview with the Mail to mark her 30th birthday two years ago.

Watermelon pill 'lowers blood pressure and could prevent strokes'

A dose of watermelon a day could help keep high blood pressure at bay.

Researchers have discovered that the fruit is rich in compounds that widen blood vessels  -  and may cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

And a daily fix of its juices could be enough to lower blood pressure in patients suffering from hypertension, according to a study.

High blood pressure, which affects more than 16million men and women in the UK, doubles the risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke and is blamed for more than 60,000 deaths a year.

But watermelon is an edible source of L- citrulline  -  a compound vital in the production of nitric oxide, a gas that widens blood vessels.

Researchers in the U.S. gave a group of volunteers a daily dose of 6g, or slightly more than a teaspoonful, of L-citrulline extracted from watermelons.

All of those taking part had pre-hypertension, or borderline high blood pressure.

After six weeks, readings had improved in all nine participants, with none experiencing any side-effects.

But there is one catch  -  you'd need to eat one-and-a-half watermelons a day to achieve the same effect. 

Dr Arturo Figueroa, of Florida State University, said: 'These findings suggest that this " functional food" has a vasodilatory effect, and one that may prevent pre-hypertension from progressing to full-blown hypertension, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.

'Given the encouraging evidence generated by this preliminary study, we hope to continue the research and include a much larger group of participants in the next round.'

Co-researcher Professor Bahram Arjmandi said: 'By functional foods, we mean those foods scientifically shown to have health-promoting or disease-preventing properties, above and beyond the other intrinsically healthy nutrients they also supply.'

The researchers found that watermelons with orange flesh contain more L- citrulline than those with red flesh.

Both varieties are rich in vitamins A, B6 and C and high in fibre. Watermelon is also a good source of potassium, which is thought to lower blood pressure.

And lycopene, the pigment that gives the fruit its colour, is credited with a host of health benefits, from warding off cancer to boosting fertility.

Fortunately for those who aren't fond of the fruit, the L-citrulline compound can also be bought in pill form.

Kiss of death: Does mouth to mouth put lives at risk?

It may be called the kiss of life, but mouth-to-mouth resuscitation could actually be anything but.

According to experts, the treatment can in fact hinder heart attack patients’ chances of survival. 

Under current advice, when a patient’s heart stops, first-aiders are told to give 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths into the mouth.

Doctors are so concerned they are calling for the technique to be left out of CPR guidelines for the condition.

This technique is widely taught in schools, offices and to those who help at big sporting events.

But U.S. researchers say giving mouth-to-mouth actually interrupts time which should be spent on chest compressions to keep blood flowing round the body. 

If patients are only given chest compressions, survival rates increase by a fifth, they found.

Dr Peter Nagele, of Washington University School of Medicine, in St Louis, said: ‘Our findings support the idea that emergency medical services dispatch should instruct bystanders to focus on chest-compression-only CPR in adults with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.’

Although CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, will not restart a heart, it ensures the patient is kept alive by pumping blood around the body to crucial organs.

This is why compressions have to be carried out until an ambulance arrives. Once a victim reaches hospital doctors try to restart their heart with a defibrillator, which delivers an electric shock.

In a study published in the Lancet, the researchers found patients given CPR without mouth-to-mouth had a 22 per cent higher survival rate than those where the technique was included.

However, mouth-to-mouth shouldn’t be removed from the first-aid repertoire altogether, as it can still be effective if a patient stops breathing, but their heart is still beating.

This could include those who are choking, are near to drowning, victims of carbon-monoxide poisoning or those who have taken a drug overdose.

Previous surveys have found that many first-aiders are put off resuscitation as they do not want to give mouth-to-mouth to a stranger.

Although the treatment is an important part of first-aid training, heart attack victims given CPR have just a 10 per cent chance of surviving until they reach hospital. But this trebles their chances when compared to patients who have no resuscitation at all.

Meet the 'Lion Whisperer' who turns big cats into pussycats

Snuggling up to a fully grown male lion seems foolish enough. To then climb on its back is surely suicide.

But as you can see, Kevin Richardson enjoys doing just that – and insists his actions are perfectly safe. 

The animal behaviourist claims he shares such a profound bond with the fearsome beasts that he can even spend the night curled up with them.

Kevin Richardson piggybacks on the back of a lion in their enclosure at the Kingdom of the White Lion park in Broederstroom, near Johannesburg in South Africa

Open wide: The 34-year-old animal behaviourist braves a fearsome set of fangs

Kevin Richardson calls himself an 'ambassador of lions' and claims he can even spend the night sleeping with the animals

The 34-year-old runs a conservation park near Johannesburg in South Africa where he also keeps cheetahs, leopards and hyenas.

He befriends the animals by talking to them and treating them with ‘love and respect’ – to the extent that they consider him part of their pride. 

The pale coat of these white lions is the result of a rare genetic mutation.

The tummy tube that fools you into thinking you're full

A PLASTIC sleeve that lines the gut to combat obesity and diabetes could soon be available on the NHS.

The 2ft-long device, which can be inserted without an operation, has been shown to help the obese lose a fifth of their body weight. 

It may even stop the need for daily medication or insulin injections for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Diet device: The 2ft long plastic Endobarrie that's inserted into the stomach via the mouth and combats obesity and diabetes

Doctors say the device, which costs £2,000, could soon be used in hospitals to replace far costlier gastric bands and gastric bypass operations.

It can be inserted via the mouth in only 15 minutes, and is far less risky than standard obesity surgery.

Doctors are testing the sleeves in three British hospitals in the hope that they will soon be routinely available on the NHS.

The device, known as an Endobarrier, lines the duodenum – a long, thin part of the gut between the stomach and the small intestine. 

It is held in place by a tiny spring and acts as a barrier to stop fats, sugar and salts being absorbed by the intestine, restricting the amount of calories being absorbed.

It also tricks people into feeling full by causing large amounts of undigested food to reach the small intestine, which results in an increase of a hormone called PYY which suppresses the appetite.

The sleeve, which stays in the body for six to 12 months, improves Type 2 diabetes by causing the gut to release a hormone called GLP1, which increases the body’s use of
insulin and lowers blood sugar levels.

Alberic Feines, a consultant bariatric surgeon at St Anthony’s Hospital in Surrey, said: ‘Many patients may not want gastric bypass or band surgery because they don’t want the operation. This procedure would be far preferable.’