A team of chemical engineers have discovered what may be the "ancestral Eve" crystal that billions of years ago gave life on Earth its curious and exclusive preference for so-called left-handed amino acids. The results are published in Crystal Growth and Design.

Researchers used mixtures of both left- and right-handed aspartic acid (an amino acid) in laboratory experiments to see how temperature and other conditions affected formation of crystals of the material.

The future effects of global warming could be significantly altered over very small distances by local air movements in complex or mountainous terrain, according to a new paper in the International Journal of Climatology.

Based on a regional temperature increase of about 5 degrees projected for western Oregon by 2100, scientists say that some locations, such as mountain ridge tops, could actually increase as much as 14 degrees at some times, while cold air pools in the valleys below them with temperature increases similar to the regional average.

Daily consumption of added sugars in the U.S. averages 3.2 ounces (15.8 percent of daily caloric intake) and has increased substantially since 1977-1978, when added sugars contributed only 10.6 percent of the calories consumed by adults, according to a new study in JAMA.

The study also points out that consuming higher amounts of added sugars is associated with lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and higher levels of triglycerides, which are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

A mother's shorter height is associated with a reduced growth rate and a higher death rate for her children, among 54 low- to middle-income countries, according to a study in the April 21 issue of JAMA.

Researchers say the association suggests the presence of "an intergenerational transmission from mother's own nutrition, disease, and socioeconomic circumstances during her childhood to her offspring's health and mortality in their infancy and childhood."

Listening to your iPod or mp3 player for several hours at a time could put your hearing at risk, according to the least fun science article ever written.

The editorial, published today in the British Medical Journal, points out that personal music devices such as MP3 players can generate levels of sound at the ear in excess of 120 decibels, similar in intensity to a jet engine, especially when used with earphones that insert into the ear canal.

More than 90%  of teenagers from Europe and the United States surveyed use the newfangled  contraptions. Overall, their use "has grown faster than our ability to assess their potential health consequences," says Peter Rabinowitz from Yale University School of Medicine.

Research conducted at the University of Alberta confirms that fat people are often labeled lazy simply because of their size.

The new study found that when a thin person was seen laying down watching television, people assumed they were resting. But when an overweight person was relaxing, the same group assumed that the husky individual was lazy and unmotivated.

Study participants viewed a number of pictures that would flash on a computer screen. After each photo a sedentary word such as "lazy" would appear. After the participants looked at each picture they were asked to say the color of each word.