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Microbiologists rarely wash their jeans. The reason is because they know how to keep the color looking new without getting odors - they freeze their pants. Freezing can even work in more extreme scenarios, like with waste water. When waste water freezes, it is purified through the formation of a cleaner layer of ice. Then the clean layer of ice can be removed from the rest of the waste water, and the remaining waste water is more concentrated, which can be treated as needed with a lot less outside processing. Energy is required only for breaking the ice and transporting it from the waste water pool.Credit: Lappeenranta University of Technology, LUT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently warned that statins could affect the memory, attention span and other cognitive abilities of people who it drug to control high cholesterol. Despite cultural claims in the US that the FDA is too liberal in approval, a new review found that they were instead being far too conservative. It was the precautionary principle becoming a vice, according to a systematic review of 25 clinical trials incorporating nearly 47,000 people, led by Brian R. Ott, M.D., professor at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Long before oxytocin was the miracle spray that could make people feel more trusting, our ancestors used lavender. Unsurprisingly, it still works today, according to a new psychology paper.Nederlandse Vereniging voor Psychonomie member psychologists Roberta Sellaro and Lorenza Colzato investigated whether the calming olfactory fragrance of lavender has a positive effect on mutual trust. Aromatherapists already knew that aromatic compounds can alter mood and even claim cognitive, psychological or physical wellbeing effects. “Mutual trust is the social glue of society,” says Sellaro. “Interpersonal trust is an essential element for social co-operation bargaining and negotiation.”Trust Game

Within the nervous system there is a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a site considered as the biological clock in all mammals, including humans. A new study has found that when this nucleus is damaged or destroyed the rhythm of the biological clock is lost.Research by René Drucker and colleagues was performed in rats because they have well-defined activities at night that have little activity during the day. When some of these rats had neuronal alterations affecting their sleep cycle we could graph the amount of activity during the day and the night. So, when there was an injury that destroyed the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the pace and the biological clock was lost, and the animal equitably distributed its activity during the day and night.

Most vitamin supplements have little value to most people - if you can afford them your diet is probably already fine - but they have even less value in energy drinks and vitamin waters, despite how aggressively companies promote belief that they boost immune support and have antioxidant properties and whatever else.

Sensory 'hair cell' loss is the major cause of hearing loss and balance disorders. The postnatal mammalian inner ear harbors progenitor cells which have the potential for hair cell regeneration - and hearing recovery - but the mechanisms that control their proliferation and hair cell regeneration are yet to be determined. 
A new study has shown that blocking the Notch pathway, known to control the elaborate hair cell distribution in the inner ear, plays an essential role that determines cochlear progenitor cell proliferation capacity. 

By observing and surveying 30 cool solar-type stars in the 2.5 Billion-year-old cluster NGC 6819 an international research team has created an analytical procedure for accurately determining the ages of stars with knowledge of their masses and rotation periods. 
 This "gyrochronology",  a neologism of co-author Sydney Barnes, has been shown to work over a wide age range, significantly improving the accuracy of stellar age determination.
"The relationship between mass, rotation rate and age of the observed stars is now defined well enough that by measuring the first two parameters, the third, the star's age, can be determined with only 10 percent uncertainty," said Barnes.

For fruit crops such as apples, compromised skin appearance results in reduced market value. Identifying causes of fruit disorders and diseases can help producers modify growing strategies and increase profits and so researchers in Germany recently released a study of "skin spot", a disorder found in 'Elstar' and occasionally in 'Golden Delicious' apples. It is characterized by patches of small brownish dots that usually appear on the apples' skin after the fruit is moved from storage.

Staying active allows you to age optimally, according to a small study in The Journal of Physiology which analyzed older amateur cyclists and found that many had levels of physiological function that would place them at a much younger age compared to the general population. The authors say this debunks the common assumption that aging automatically makes you more frail than younger people.
The researchers recruited 84 male and 41 female cycling enthusiasts aged 55 to 79 to explore how the aging process affects the human body, and whether specific physiological markers can be used to determine your age.

The political football of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America is well-known but a new study has found that even immigrants with job offers are less likely to have those immigration requests granted - if they are from Latin America,

Higher alcohol taxes curb binge drinking, according to a new paper by Boston University scholars. 

With the cultural spotlight shining so brightly on the risks of gridiron football, it was only a matter of time before the unknown risks of youth rugby got some scrutiny, and a senior doctor in The BMJ does that this week.
Michael Carter, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, argues that "rugby sidesteps many safeguards intended to ensure pupil wellbeing" and calls on schools, clubs, medical facilities, and regulatory bodies to "cooperate now to quantify the risks of junior rugby."
In UK schools where rugby is played, it mostly begins as a near compulsory activity from the age of 8 years, he explains. By 10 years, most players engage in some form of contact competition, increasing the potential for injury.