Gingko biloba is a Chinese herb often used as a dietary supplement to treat memory loss, mental fatique, improve clarity of thought and could even protect against Alzheimer's. Researchers found significant improvement in verbal recall among a group of people with age-associated memory impairment, who took the herbal supplement ginkgo biloba for six months, when compared with a group that received a placebo. Read more
Mysteries of the Human Brain
Join Charlie Rose in a brilliant discussion and analysis of the mysteries of the human brain with Paul Nurse, president of Rockefeller University and Dr. Eric Kandel of Columbia University. Read more
Vitamin and Mineral Spotlight
Selenium
An essential trace mineral. Small amounts of selenium are good for your health. Selenium has a variety of functions: It helps make special proteins, called antioxidant enzymes, which play a role in preventing cell damage. Some medical information suggests that selenium may help prevent certain cancers.There have also been mixed results regarding selenium's impact on cardiovascular disease. Read more
This Hubble Space Telescope image of the star V838 Monocerotis reveals dramatic changes in the illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, unveiled never-before-seen dust patterns when the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002.
A light echo is light from a stellar explosion echoing off dust surrounding the star that produces enough energy in a brief flash to illuminate surrounding dust. The star presumably ejected the illuminated dust shells in previous outbursts. Light from the latest outburst travels to the dust and then is reflected to Earth.
The phenomena is similar to that of a nova. A typical nova is a normal star that dumps hydrogen onto a compact white-dwarf companion star. The hydrogen piles up until it spontaneously explodes by nuclear fusion -- like a titanic hydrogen bomb -- exposing a searing stellar core with a temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.
By contrast, V838 Monocerotis did not expel its outer layers. Instead, it grew enormously in size. Its surface temperature dropped to temperatures that were not much hotter than a light bulb. This behavior of ballooning to an immense size, but not losing its outer layers, is very unusual and completely unlike an ordinary nova explosion.
The outburst may represent a transitory stage in a star's evolution that is rarely seen. The star has some similarities to highly unstable aging stars called eruptive variables, which suddenly and unpredictably increase in brightness.
V838 Monocerotis is located about 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros, placing the star at the outer edge of our Milky Way galaxy.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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Join Charlie Rose in a brilliant discussion and analysis of the mysteries of the human brain with Paul Nurse, president of Rockefeller University and Dr. Eric Kandel of Columbia University.
An essential trace mineral. Small amounts of selenium are good for your health. Selenium has a variety of functions: It helps make special proteins, called antioxidant enzymes, which play a role in preventing cell damage. Some medical information suggests that selenium may help prevent certain cancers.There have also been mixed results regarding selenium's impact on cardiovascular disease. 
