Darker Skin Evolved To Reduce Cancer Risk

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A long-discounted theory about the evolution of skin color may have had it right all along, new research suggests.
Darker skin gives individuals much greater protection from UV light-induced skin cancer. Pale-skinned people are roughly 1,000 times more likely than individuals with dark skin to suffer from the three most common skin cancers. But for years, researchers believed the lowered risk was an incidental benefit, not one derived through the pressure of natural selection.
Even Charles Darwin poo-poohed the notion that pigmentation could be an adaptive trait. A new study, however, finds evidence that skin cancer was in fact a driving evolutionary force for early hominids to have darker skin.

 Darker Skin Evolved To Reduce Cancer Risk - D-brief | DiscoverMagazine.com

Can Aspirin really be used to cool a bad temper?

By stockimages/freedigitalphotos.net

About 16 million Americans suffer from IED, which often causes road rage. (Thinkstock)The ever-so-annoying advice to "take a chill pill" might just ring true, according to a recent study that suggests anti-inflammatory medications such as Aspirin could reduce aggression in certain people.

Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado claim to have found biological markers which show a connection between inflammation in the body and an anger-related condition called intermittent explosive disorder (IED).
"We don't yet know if the inflammation triggers aggression or aggressive feelings set off inflammation, but it's a powerful indication that the two are biologically connected, and a damaging combination," explains senior study author Dr. Emil Coccaro from the University of Chicago.
Read the whole article here http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/shine-on/aspirin-really-used-cool-bad-temper-214006479.html