On The Radar

The pick of the science news

“For the science community, it’s a huge disappointment"

– Nasa launch director Chuck Dovale on the failure of the $278 million (€216 million) Orbiting Carbon Observatory to launch into orbit this week. The spacecraft was to map carbon dioxide levels in earth’s atmosphere but splash-landed in the Pacific after a protective cover failed to detach within minutes of blast-off

By numbers

4

The number of years it took to develop a computer model at the University of Wisconsin to generate all snowflake types in three-dimensional detail.

200 million

The estimated number of years ago that single-celled algae came together to form a multi-cellular colony, according to DNA analysis.

The roots of turning grey

Our hair turns grey thanks to an internal build-up of the bleaching agent, hydrogen peroxide, a new study has reported. The research analysed cell cultures of human hair follicles and found that increased levels of hydrogen peroxide blocked production of the pigment, melanin, which gives colour to hair.

“Not only blondes change their hair colour with hydrogen peroxide,” says Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, which published the study. “All of our hair cells make a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide, but as we get older, this little bit becomes a lot. We bleach our hair pigment from within, and our hair turns grey and then white. This research, however, is an important first step to get at the root of the problem, so to speak.”

Taking B to see

Taking B-vitamin supplements daily could help protect sight in older age, according to Harvard University research. A seven-year study looked at more than 5,000 women aged over 40 who had vascular disease, and found that taking folic acid and vitamin B6 and B12 was associated with a

34 per cent reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. “The beneficial effect of treatment began to emerge at approximately two years of follow-up and persisted throughout the trial,” wrote the study’s authors in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “The findings are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements.”