Hirsute Or Hairless? Two Proteins May Spell The Difference
If you're a cat fancier, you're well aware that hair follicles are expendable. The product of a spontaneous mutation that caught a cat breeder's eye, le chat nu, would quickly succumb in the wild—its winter coat consists of little more than a ridge of fur down the midback and tail—and needs special care to thrive as a pet. Hairless animals in the lab, on the other hand, can be very instructive. U...A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species
The shady pursuit of endangered bird eggs made international headlines in May 2006 when Colin Watson, widely considered Britain's most notorious illegal egg collector, died after falling from a 12-meter tree, allegedly while hunting a rare egg. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimates that up to 30 of Britain's most vulnerable species are targeted by collectors. Classical economics...Holiday gluttony can spell disaster for undiagnosed diabetics
Hearty feasts and couch-potato marathons are holiday traditions, but UT Southwestern Medical Center experts warn that packing on pounds and not exercising could be deadly for the 6 million Americans who have diabetes and don't even know it. Diabetes, a metabolic disorder linked with obesity, can be a silent killer because its symptoms aren't sudden, but build up over time and lead to hear...Spelling out cancer on the nanoscale
Tumors start small and stay quiet, yet their intentions are clearly spelled out internally, if we could only read them. No matter how small, every tumor reveals its identity in tiny amounts of abnormally expressed proteins called oncoproteins. Being able to read trace oncoprotein levels from early-stage tumors would speak volumes to physicians and cancer researchers. Enter nano-fluidics and the a...Dispelling the top five myths about attending networking events
For some people, networking is only important when a need arises (such as a new job or a product to sell). People with this attitud...Fireworks can spell death for asthmatic children
With many festivals round the corner its boom time for fireworks. We can never imagine diwali without fireworks. Pongal or karthigai also have their share of fireworks. Then of course the usual rigmarole of India – Pakistan cricket matches where even cricket stadia aren’t exempted from fireworks. Last but not the least, private functions like marriages, birthdays and other occasions call...Attention! Spells of momentary blindness following visual disturbance
Emotionally arousing violent or erotic images have been known to cause momentary periods of blindness. It has been demonstrated that there are limits to how much information people can hold in their visual short-term memory // . As a consequence of this, we often miss visual images that pass right before our eyes when we are paying attention to something else. But this is n...Uncontrolled Diabetes Spells Doom for Dental Implants
Dental Implants are the perfect replacement of missing teeth in that patients are not subjected to the tedious job of removing them from their mouth// every time they have a meal to keep them clean. These implants are fast becoming the norm rather than the exception in the fast-paced world of today. But a new report appearing in the November/December issue of General Dentistry, the Acad...Sex Spell Lasts Two Years Graduating To 'Cuddles' Companionship
Simmering sexual passion and chemistry between new partners wanes anywhere between one to two years of togetherness, replaced by a desire for companionship, according to novel // research in Sexual health. Scientists from Italy have now been able to place a finger on probable reasons for the waxing and waning of passion between couples after a period of togetherness. Hormones rule is...Lip Service : Indiscriminate Kissing Spells Doom
Teenagers who lose count of the number of people with whom they have shared intimate kisses are in for trouble, increasing their risk of meningitis, by 4 times, according to a study to be published today.// Researchers discovered that 15- to 19-year-olds who kissed intimately with multiple partners were more likely, almost 3.7 times to get meningococcal disease. Children under 5 and adol...