Shown in an extremely broad range of color and showcasing more than twelve billion years of cosmic history, Hubble's recent image is a full-glory cosmic renaissance of the history of the Universe. This image provides a record of the Universe's most exciting formative years, from the birth of stars in the early Universe all the way through the materialization of the Milky Way.

Consumers who choose what they eat based on nutrition labels may think they're making healthy choices, but new research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association indicates that those familiar labels may be greatly underestimating the number of calories in restaurant and packaged food. 

Measured energy values of 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods averaged 18% more calories than the stated values. Likewise, measured energy values of 10 frozen meals purchased from supermarkets averaged 8% more calories than stated on the label.

Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) who consume more than 308 mg of caffeine daily have milder liver fibrosis, according to a study featured in the January 2010 issue of Hepatology. The daily amount of caffeine intake found to be beneficial was equivalent to 2.25 cups of regular coffee, and other sources of caffeine beyond coffee did not have the same therapeutic effect.

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have broken the distance limit for galaxies by uncovering a primordial population of never-before-seen ultra-blue galaxies. At 13 billion years old, they formed approximately 600 to 800 million years after the Big Bang.

Researchers say these newly found objects are crucial to understanding the evolutionary link between the birth of the first stars, the formation of the first galaxies, and the sequence of evolutionary events that resulted in the assembly of our Milky Way and the other "mature" elliptical and majestic spiral galaxies in today's universe.

Despite the stereotype that girls aren't very good with numbers, it appears that they're just as proficient as boys when it comes to mathematics, and girls from countries where gender equity is acceptable are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests. The findings are detailed in the latest issue of Psychological Bulletin.

 "Stereotypes about female inferiority in mathematics are a distinct contrast to the actual scientific data," said Nicole Else-Quest, PhD, a psychology professor at Villanova University, and lead author of the meta-analysis. "These results show that girls will perform at the same level as the boys when they are given the right educational tools and have visible female role models excelling in mathematics."

According to a new study published in this month's Genomics journal, so called 'junk' DNA may  help doctors diagnose breast and bowel cancer. Researchers from the University of Nottingham discovered that a group of genetic rogue elements--called chimeric transcripts--produced by 'junk' DNA sequences are more common in breast cancer cells. Five were only present in breast cancer cells while two were found in both normal and breast cancer cells.

These chimeric transcripts are produced by DNA sequences called LINE-1 (L1). Despite being labelled as 'junk DNA' it is clear that some of these sequences have important roles in the genome, such as influencing when genes are switched on.

While communicating with out hands is often considered strange (or even rude) today, gesturing may actually improve our communication abilities, according to research conducted by an international team of scientists and published in a recent issue of Psychological Science. The authors say the finding has important social implications for "everyday communicative situations," like political speeches and classroom lectures.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the University of Iowa say that the key to bringing obesity under control is to make our muscle a little less efficient and they may have found a way to do it. In a new study in the January issue of Cell Metabolism, the team discusses the possibility that treatments designed to disrupt so-called sarcolemmal ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels specifically in muscles might allow us to control our weight by increasing the number of calories our muscles will burn with regular activity or exercise.