X-mas effect

Christmas pudding can affect your DNA. Over-indulging in festive season favourites like turkey, ham and other special dinner plates, say Australian food scientists, creates over-nutrition. It leads to the production of molecular oxygen species which damages DNA. Abundance of food is also linked to diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular ailments and some cancers.

New member

A newly found object in deep space, nicknamed Buffy (500-1000 kms across), is challenging the existing theories about how the solar system evolved, say astronomers in Canada, France and the US, reports AFP. The rock lies in the Kuiper Belt, the flock of objects beyond Neptune’s orbit believed to be the ruins of the building phase of the solar system.

Skin gene

The mystery of human skin colour is probably solved. Previous studies pointed to more than 100 different genes involved in the production of melanin ? the pigment responsible for skin colour. A team at Penn State University has found that just one tiny change in a key gene, named SLC24A5, plays a major role in determining skin pigmentation in humans.