Radition - Cause of Gray Hair

Melanocyte stem cells exist within every hair follicle. These cells gradually split into two populations - 1 produces pigment for hair before dying, while the other becomes a new melanocyte stem cell. In a perfect world, these cells would replenish themselves indefinitely and we'd keep our original hair color (baldness notwithstanding).

Researchers think the melanocyte die-off may allow the body to shed potentially cancerous, radiation-stressed cells. Emotional Stress as a harm to stem cells is still up in the air - so don't blame your spouse just yet.

Color Dictates Hangover Severity

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research finds that lighter colored spirits (e.g. vodka) may cause lesser hangovers than darker drinks (e.g. bourbon). Many drinks contain byproducts of fermentation called congeners which in large doses can have toxic effects ... darker distilled drinks and wines generally have more congeners vs. lighter ones (e.g. bourbon has 37 times more than vodka).

Intelligent Design

Current Biology has argued that British backyard bird feeders have caused a split in central European blackcap warblers into 2 distinct populations that may become separate species. The finding is incredible as evolution usually takes eons, while this has occurred in less than 30 generations.

The bird feeders are serving a crucial role - for 1 species to diverge into 2, a physical separation is needed so the 2 populations can breed independently and evolve differently. Warblers migrate in the winter and routes are genetically determined. The population studied has historically wintered in Spain. Those flying north died from lack of food in barren winter landscapes.

Bird feeders basically changed the ecosystem, giving warblers an incentive to stay in England during the winter. Also, the birds flight back home in central Europe is several hundred miles shorter than a trip back from Spain, so British migrators immediately begin breeding on their return.

A genetic split has occurred, results already visible in the birds’ anatomy - difference in wing and beak structure and even dietary preferences

How BIG an impact have these bird feeders had? Well, bird feeders are now doing the job mountains, oceans, etc. normally do.

More Fun = Less Time (Sort of)

Time flies when you're having fun, but now the opposite may also be true. Psychological Science has published a study arguing that if people believe time has past quickly, they think they had more fun.

Smaller Fingers = Higher Sensitivity

A study in the Journal of Neuroscience finds that people with smaller fingers have more sensitive fingertips, probably because of a higher concentration of touch receptors in a given area. With smaller hands on average, it follows that women would then have a more sensitive touch then men.

Not So Secret

This is embarrassing ... and dangerous - the Wall Street Journal reports that Iraqi militants cracked the software for Predator drone surveillance planes which send information unencrypted to military operators - with $26 software.

The lack of encryption means the data is less secure than most home wireless internet networks. Considering each plane costs ~$4 million, this is really bad news.

Dirtyness - the key to Health

The Proceedings of the Royal Society B published a study suggesting that over-cleanliness could make babies more prone to inflammation later in life and raise the risk for stroke and heart disease.

The study found that the more pathogens a case group from the Philippines had encountered before age 2, the less cases of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation marker. Every episode of diarrhea lowered chance of higher CRP later by 11%, every 2 months spent in a place with animal feces cut it by 13%, and being born in the dusty, dirty dry season cut the chance by 33%.

So if you want your children to be healthy, let them get a little dirty

Secret to Hummingbirds Drinking Nectar

A hummingbird can extract nectar by wrapping its tongue into a straw. But how could it since viscosity makes sucking liquid more difficult as the straw becomes smaller?

Research at MIT has discovered that the hummingbird is taking advantage of surface tension - what allows water striders to skim across water. When a hummingbird sticks its tongue into a flower, the tongue compresses from 3/4in long to 1/25in in diameter.

The tongue closes, nectar is drawn up, and the "straw" fills with nectar. The hummingbird then scrapes its tongue clean and swallows. It repeats this process 20x/second during feeding.

The discovery holds promise for researchers building miniature chemistry laboratories — "labs on a chip" — that move tiny droplets of chemicals from place to place.

Here's a video of hummingbirds feeding.