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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A gene found in redheads and fair-skinned people may also play a role in the body's natural pain suppression system. But the gene, Mc1r, appears to impact pain suppression only in women, according to the study, published Monday in the advance online publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites). The researchers found that redheaded women were able to tolerate more pain than other people when given an analgesic drug called pentazocine. All redheaded men, as well as men and women who did not have red hair, had similar-and...

The first ever Miss Germany with ginger hair says she's delighted at proving her doubters wrong. Critics had argued Babett Konau's hair colour would stop the 24-year-old from winning the title. She said her victory, ironically in the German town of Rust, proved being ginger was not an obstacle to becoming a beauty queen. The dental assistant, from Schleswig Holstein, said: "It's a really nice feeling to know you can win - even with red hair." Ms Konau has yet to decide whether she will continue working as a dental assistant, but added: "I hope I stay exactly how I...

That Flaming Hair Could Mean Flaming Pain - Study Mon Oct 14, 5:50 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Redheads may actually have another trait that makes them stand out -- sensitivity to pain, specialists reported on Tuesday. People with natural red hair need about 20 percent more anesthesia than people with other hair colors, they told a meeting of anesthesiologists. The unexpected finding not only suggests that redheads are more sensitive to pain, but offers insights into how anesthesia works in people. "Red hair is the first visible human trait, or phenotype, that is linked to anesthetic requirement," Dr. Edwin...

Angel kisses. That’s what my Grammy called my freckles when I was a little girl. And what my great-grandmother called my mom’s freckles when she was a little girl. Unfortunately, our Grammys can’t be with us all of the time, and much of the universe lacks their confectioners’-sugar-dusted worldview. I wore heavy makeup. I bleached my skin. But I never could cover them up, and eventually, I stopped tryingWhere I grew up, in mid-coast Maine, the primary industry is lobster fishing. Although I can now recognize my hometown as an oasis of beauty and tradition, as a kid I was...

A small cosmetic jar offers more circumstantial evidence that the legendary aviator, Amelia Earhart, died on an uninhabited island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati. Found broken in five pieces, the ointment pot was collected on Nikumaroro Island by researchers of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating the last, fateful flight taken by Earhart 75 years ago. When reassembled,‭ the glass fragments ‬make up a nearly complete jar identical in shape to the ones used by Dr.‭ ‬C.‭ ‬H Berry's Freckle Ointment. The ointment was marketed in the early‭ ‬20th century as...

I will have to join you later cuz I am watching the DWTS finale and taping Jack. But talk amongst yourselves and I'll see ya later. I'm hyperventilating already.

Alternative tissues shown to yield reprogrammed cells aplenty. Fat cells are more easily turned into iPS cells than fibroblasts.Punchstock Fat cells and pigment-producing skin cells can be reprogrammed into stem cells much faster and more efficiently than the skin cells that are usually used — suggesting large bellies and little black moles could provide much-needed material for deriving patient-specific stem cells."More than one type of adult somatic cell can serve as a target for reprogramming to a pluripotent state," says William Lowry, a stem-cell biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research. "You...

Boadicea may have had her chips on site of McDonald's By Nick Britten (Filed: 25/05/2006) Archaeologists believe they may have found the final battle site for the warrior queen Boadicea - on the site of a McDonald's restaurant. Having spent her life in fierce resistance to one empire - the Romans - her last stand is thought to have been overshadowed by another one, this time corporate. Having found ancient artefacts where new houses and flats are due to be built, experts have now asked the local authority to allow a full excavation of the area. Little is known about...