Daily Science and WHY IT MATTERS

Lipstick has been around for a very long time, according to this detailed history of lipstick.  It's been with us since the prehistoric days, where fruits and berries were used to mark faces during rituals.  It was also used for medicinal purposes, such as protecting our lips from dry weather, moisture, and the sun.  However, when we look at how lipstick is made and what goes in it, I want to cringe and scrub my lips off.

In the past, women would crush insects in order to get a desirable red pigment on their mouths.  Apparently, this practice is still used today.

I.  Hate.  Bugs.

At UC Berkeley, researchers recently tested 32 different types of lipstick and lip gloss to see just what goes in to the products.  Traces of cadmium, chromium, aluminum, manganese, and other metals were found, which are common in factories that produce lipstick.  There's a problem, however.  Some of these metals are reaching hazardous levels in the product, and can cause health issues.  On average, those who wear lipstick frequently can consume up to 24 milligrams of the product, and those who reapply throughout the day can consume up to 87 milligrams.  This leads to overexposure to chromium, and can lead to overexposure of aluminum, cadmium, and manganese with frequent use.  Exposure to cadmium causes effects that can range from flu-like symptoms to cancer.  On top of this, lead has also been found in some lipsticks, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead for humans.

So how does this affect everyday society?

With the knowledge that lipstick contains harmful substances, there is no need to drop your favorite tube and burn it.  However, we should become aware of what is going into the product and how it hurts us.  The Daily Green offers us 11 non-toxic lipsticks that are safe to use.

Whenever I would watch a Brewers game and Ryan Braun would knock yet another ball out of the park, I would sit there and as myself, "What if I played baseball?  That teeny ball is going way to fast... I would strike out every time."  And then I would get sad because yet another unrealistic and crazy dream of mine was shot down.  But the real question is: how is Braun able to track a small object traveling at a high speed?

According to the article linked above, scientists might have the answer.

(Brewers player Ryan Braun)

At UC Berkeley, vision scientists conducted study that revealed that the brain has the ability to predict the path of a moving object, even a high speed object such as a baseball.  According to Gerrit Maus, a postdoctoral fellow in Psychology at UC Berkeley, the brain takes one-tenth of a second to process an object seen.  In order to compensate for this delay, the brain shifts the object forward in the direction that it's moving.  Instead of seeing the object, the brain is predicting where the object will be.  The study is explained in more detail in the article linked above.

So how does this affect everyday society?

Well, 3D printing doesn't stop there.

3D printing seems to be a relatively new piece of technology, but it has been around for about three decades.  Today, Smithsonian released an article that explains a little more about the potential a simple 3D printer can have when it comes to science and the human body.  Why stop at recreating human faces?

Scientists at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine are working on developing a system that can theoretically print muscle tissue, skin, cartilage, and bones.  Before this, scientists have been making organs by hand, such as the handmade bladder, which have been implanted in a handful of patients successfully.  With the help of the 3D printer, it takes out a lot of time and preparation, not to mention it will much easier to construct (by taking out human error completely).  Cartridges of progenitor cells (cells that have the capacity to differentiate into specific types of cells) can be inserted in the printer, and, with the guidance of a computer program, a template can be created.  Cells can then be coated over the templates and new body parts can be grown.

(ear, nose, and bone scaffolds printed from a 3D printer)

So how does this affect everyday society?

Everyone loves music.  It's hard not to, since it is literally all around us: streaming out of radios, backing heart wrenching scenes in movies, and supporting television ads.  Be it rocking out to classic rock or calming down to classical, music has a profound impact on our brains, and scientists are constantly trying to figure out how it exactly impacts us.  As I write, I am listening to a rendition of Rhapsody in Blue written by Duke Ellington; it helps me clear my head so I can easily write (go check it out, it's great).

According to a recent CNN article, music has been found to reduce stress in pre-surgery patients, even beating out the stress levels of patients that had taken anxiety medication.  Music Therapists often help patients in hospital by offering music to listen to and instruments to play.  Daniel Levitin, a psychologist who studies the neuroscience of music at McGill University in Montreal, states that "... music is arguably less expensive than drugs, and it is easier on the body and it doesn't have side effects."  I would trust music much more than a pill that has the side effect of possible death.  Levitin has also found evidence that music is linked with immunoglobin A, an antibody associated with immunity, and other things in our immune system.

Although it is never to late to pick up an instrument and learn how to read music, studies show that if a child is involved in musical training before the age of seven, there is a stronger connection between motor regions in the brain, which is the part that helps plan and carry out movements.  An article released on the Environmental News Network goes on to further outline how early music training helps to develop the brain.  Virginia Penhune, a psychologist and professor at Concordia University, conducted an experiment with adult musicians that tested motor skills and movement tasks, and scanned their brains in the process.  Those who had began music training before the age of seven showed more accurate timing than those who had started after the age of seven, showing that a particular part of the brain was more developed.

So how does this affect everyday society?

More like cool.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg, a PhD student studying electronic arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue in Troy, New York, has recently discovered that by collecting samples of hair, used cigarette butts, fingernails, and wads of chewing gum, she is able to extract DNA and create a portrait of the person who left a piece of themselves behind.

(Dewey-Hagborg and her DNA-based self portrait)

According to this article by the Smithsonian, Dewey-Hagborg is able to extract DNA from samples that she has found on bathroom floors and other godforsaken places and plug the data into a computer program that will produce a model of the face that the DNA belongs to.  Then, using a 3D printer, she can produce a sculpture of the model.

So how does this affect everyday society?

Using this method could prove to be extremely helpful when it comes to criminal investigations.  DNA found in crime scenes can be put into this computer program and a model of the unsub can be created, making the unknown subject less unknown.  Dewey-Hagborg was recently contacted to assist with a cold case, where the victim had been unidentified.  She is currently working on a portrait using the bones of the victim.