Two students once embarked on a school science project to see how long they could stay awake for, not realizing it would have a lasting effect on their lives.

The year is 1963; Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech during the March on Washington for Jobs of Freedom; Beatlemania really ignites, and JFK is assassinated in Texas while riding in a motorcade with his wife.

1963 is also the year that 17-year-old Randy Gardner and his friend Bruce McAllister make a pact to stay up for a staggering 264 hours.

Their idea was that they would smash a world record (260 hours) and ace their science assignment, meanwhile discovering what really happens to a human’s brain if they don’t get enough sleep.

Speaking about the origins of the test, McAllister recalled that they had initially wanted to explore the effect of sleeplessness on paranormal ability.

“We realised there was no way we could do that, and so we decided on the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive abilities, performance on the basketball court. Whatever we could come up with.”

Randy Gardner beat the world record by just four hours (WondersOfTheWorld/YouTube)

In order to decide which of the duo would do the staying up, they flipped a coin, and it was decided that Gardner would become sleep-deprived in the name of science.

McAllister explained that he also stayed awake to monitor his friend. But after ‘three nights of sleeplessness’ he woke up ‘writing notes on the wall’.

Realising that their feat was more difficult than it seemed, the pair enlisted the help of another friend – sleep researcher William Dement from Stanford University.

Recounting the experiment, the late Washington man said: “[Randy’s parents] were very worried that this might be something that would really be harmful to him. Because the question was still unresolved on whether or not if you go without sleep long enough you will die.”

Of course, those who suffer from sleep deprivation can be at risk of heart disease, exhibit poor balance and be subjected to high blood pressure.

While Gardner and McAllister’s experiment started well, it went on to birth some unexpected results.

After three days without any sleep, the former apparently began to experience concentration issues and short-term memory loss. Gardner was also reportedly suffering from moodiness, paranoia and hallucinations.

Dement said: “He was physically very fit so we could always get him going by playing basketball or going bowling, things like that.

“If he closed his eyes he would be immediately asleep.”

Brain scans would later reveal that the participants’ brain had been ‘catnapping the entire time… parts of it would be asleep, parts of it would be awake’.

The student claimed he was ‘awful to be around’ after completing the task (@Psych_review/X)

Unbelievably, the teen was able to stay awake for a total of 11 days (264 hours).

This broke the previous record of 260 hours, which was held by a Honolulu-based disc jockey.

After concluding the experiment, Gardner was taken to a naval hospital.

Speaking to NPR, Gardner said: “I slept just over 14 hours. I remember when I woke up, I was groggy, but not any groggier than a normal person.”

Luckily, the teen seemed to have no major short-term issues from completing his science project.

However, he later admitted that he had been suffering from unbearable insomnia for decades.

He explained: “I was awful to be around. Everything upset me. It was like a continuation of what I did 50 years ago.”

Teenager Ralph Yarl, who was shot in the head last month when he accidentally rang the wrong doorbell, has made his first public appearance since the horrific incident.

Ralph, 17, had gone to pick up his younger brothers from a friend’s house in April when he mistakenly went to the wrong address.

When he rang the doorbell, homeowner Andrew D. Lester, 84, shot the Black teenager twice – once in the head and then in the arm.

The teen was left with a traumatic brain injury, but made a miraculous recovery and was out of hospital in the space of a week.

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Now, Ralph has made his first major public appearance just over a month since the shooting.

Ralph was seen on Monday (29 May) with family and friends at an annual Memorial Day race for brain injury awareness at Loose Park in Kansas City Missouri.

Speaking ahead of the Going the Distance for Brain Injury race, Ralph’s mother Cleo Nagbe said: “It takes a community. It takes a family. It takes a support group, all of that.

“Let’s raise more awareness to stop the things that cause brain injuries and should not be causing them, especially gun violence.”

Alongside Ralph and his family were approximately 1,000 other runners, from fellow brain injury survivors and their loved ones to supporters.

Among them, many could be seen wearing bright neon green t-shirts with the words ‘Team Ralph’ written across them.

Ralph’s aunt Faith Spoonmore, who set up a GoFundMe page for the teenager while he recovered in hospital, said: “It’s important for Ralph to see that he is not alone.”

Facebook/GoFundMe

She added that, while Ralph is up and walking again, he still suffers with balance problems, debilitating migraines, mood changes and trauma as a result of the shooting.

Meanwhile Andrew D. Lester is facing two felony charges for the shooting – one for assault in the first degree and another for armed criminal action – though there has been uproar from the public regarding police’s treatment of Mr Lester.

Before he was charged, the 84-year-old was taken into police custody and held for two hours before being released.

Police said they had to let the suspect go because they needed to get a formal statement from the victim before they could take the next steps, and Ralph was in hospital with serious injuries at the time.

When police eventually got a statement from Ralph, Mr Lester was charged with the two felonies which could see him go to prison for life, but more than 20 hours passed before he was taken into custody.

Clay County Detention Center

He was no sooner in police custody than released again after posting a $200,000 bond.

While Ralph’s legal team has said that they’re happy with the two charges made against Mr Lester, they have publicly questioned he hasn’t been charged with attempted murder.

Mr Lester has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is next due to appear in court on June 1.

A teenager who was shot in the head after ringing the wrong doorbell has been released from hospital just a few days after suffering serious injuries.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was picking up his brothers from a friend’s house in Kansas City, Missouri, on 13 April when he mistakenly went to the wrong house and rang the doorbell.

The 84-year-old homeowner, one Andrew D. Lester, shot the teenager once in the head and a second time in the arm after the boy had fallen to the ground.

According to a GoFundMe page set up by Ralph’s family, he had to knock on three other doors to try and get help after being shot in the head before someone agreed to assist him.

Police responded to the gunshots and Ralph was taken to hospital where he was said to be suffering from a ‘life threatening injury’ before entering a ‘stable’ condition.

The boy’s father Paul told the Kansas City Star his son was ‘making good progress’ since returning home while Ralph’s mother, a nurse, has taken time off work to care for him.

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84-year-old white man Lester has been charged by the police with one count of first degree assault and one count of armed criminal action.

The first charge could result in the man spending the rest of his life in prison, and prosecutor Zachary Thompson released a statement commenting on the matter.

He said: “My heart goes out to the child and family involved in this case.

“The probable cause statement indicates the rounds were fired through a glass door. As the prosecutor of Clay County, I can tell you there was a racial component to the case.”

Thompson further discussed the case in a press conference yesterday (17 April) where he said: “My message to the community is that, in Clay County, we enforce the laws and we follow the laws.

“That doesn’t matter where you come from, what you look like or how much money you have.”

Facebook/GoFundMe

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Ralph’s family and has worked on similar cases in the past, including those of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery and Michael Brown.

He said it was ‘inescapable not to acknowledge the racial dynamics at play’, while protestors have marked in support of the 16-year-old as they have chanted ‘Justice for Ralph’ and ‘Black Lives Matter‘.

The GoFundMe set up by Ralph’s family recently reached over $2.5 million in donations which will go towards the boy’s medical bills and therapy, any excess money raised will be put towards Ralph’s college fund and paying for him to take a trip to West Africa.

According to the page, the 16-year-old is wanting to attend Texas A&M to study chemical engineering and has a love of music, being adept with several instruments.

A man who shot a woman after she accidentally drove onto his driveway has been sentenced.

Kevin Monahan, 66, from New York, was found guilty of murder in January after he killed Kaylin Gillis, 20, in April last year.

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Gillis had been travelling with a group of friends, including her boyfriend Blake Walsh, when the car she was in pulled into a driveway in Hebron, approximately 40 miles north of Albany.

Another car and a motorcycle driven by friends joined the car on the driveway, but the group turned around as they realized they had arrived at the wrong house.

Before they had chance to leave the property, Monahan allegedly came out on to his porch and fired two shots from a shotgun, one of which struck Gillis.

At the sentencing in Washington County today (March 1), Monahan was sentenced to 25 years to life.

Judge Adam D. Michelini told the 66-year-old that he had taken away ‘so much unrealized potential’.

The judge added: “I think it’s important for people to know that it’s not OK to shoot people and have them killed for turning down your driveway.”

“You murdered Kaylin Gillis. You shot at a car full of people and you didn’t care what would happen and you repeatedly lied about it. You deserve to spend the maximum time in prison allowable under the law,” he said.

Monahan declined an opportunity to speak in court.

At the trial in January, Walsh took the stand to testify, explaining that he heard a loud noise as he began backing up the car to leave the house.

One of his friends in the back seat said someone was shooting a gun, after which the atmosphere in the car became ‘frantic’.

“People were screaming,” Walsh said.

He told the court he heard a sound like metal breaking in the car as the gun was fired a second time.

Walsh recalled ducking as he drove away from the house and asked if his friends were OK. Two of the other people in the car, Jacob Haynes and Alexandra Whiting, were unharmed, but Gillis was slumped towards the door and did not respond.

Washington County Sheriff’s Office

The group shone their phone flashlights towards Gillis and saw she was wounded.

Walsh recalled pulling up next to a Jeep driven by his friend Katherine Rondeau to tell her that Gillis had been injured.

Maxwell Barney, who was also in the Jeep, testified: “He said ‘Kaylin’s been shot. We need to get to a hospital’.”

The group had to drive for a few miles to get cellphone signal and call for help. In the meantime, Haynes kept his hand on Gillis’ neck wound to try and stop the bleeding.

A dispatcher talked the group through CPR while they waited for help, but first responders were unable to save Gillis.

Monahan’s defense attorney, Arthur Frost, has argued Monahan was scared when the cars arrived on his driveway late at night.

He described the shooting as a ‘terrible accident’ and claimed the shotgun had been defective.

However, a firearms expert testified the gun had been functioning properly at the time.