That's zit for research
Propionibacterium acnes thrive in the oily depths of skin pores, but scientists have found one strain of the bacteria that could actually prevent, rather than cause, pimples.
"This P. acnes strain may protect the skin, much like yogurt's live bacteria help defend the gut from harmful bugs," says Li Huiying, an assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Games can help dyslexia
Video games may distract kids from their books, but dyslexic children could actually benefit from playing more of these games, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology. Scientists found that 12 hours of playing action video games did more for reading skills than is normally achieved with a year of spontaneous reading development or demanding traditional reading practise. "Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment," says Andrea Facoetti of the University of Padua in Italy.
Links to childhood asthma
Asthma prevalence has increased dramatically over the past 30 years, and researchers at the Columbia Centre for Children's Environmental Health in New York suggest childhood exposure to a chemical found in some plastics could be contributing to the trend. Exposure to the chemical bisphenol A was measured through urine samples in more than 560 women during the third trimester of pregnancy and in their children aged three, five and seven. The researchers found a link between post-natal exposure to the chemical and more wheezing and asthma.