“It’s like having lots of gasoline…and a match.”

That’s how the lead researcher describes his team’s break through in skin research.

Rosacea revealed

Dr. Richard L. Gallo, M.D. Ph.D. of the University of California’s San Diego School of Medicine and his team of researchers have found the cause of rosacea, a condition also referred to as adult acne. (You can learn more about the red-faced regret of rosacea here.) They discovered that unlike real acne, which is caused by bacteria, rosacea is caused by a combination of two abnormal factors.

A protein menage a trois

According to Science Daily, Dr. Gallo’s team found that when too much of two different inflammatory proteins are produced, they interact and boost the levels of a third protein. It’s this unusual protein triple play that produces the red-faced features that characterize rosacea.

Is there a cure?

Currently there is no good treatment for rosacea. Antibiotics can help but the underlying cause is not bacterial so they usefulness is limited. Dr. Gallo hopes that this research will lead to a brand new therapeutic treatment for this condition. Now if they can only find a cure for bacne!

Scientific American has an interesting article about research that, for the first time, shows a link between how our brains process scent and sound input.

Smound science

Research by Daniel Wesson and Donald Wilson at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research indicate the possible existence of a smell-sound sense (which they refer to as a “smound.”) They found that tubercle cells in mice brains respond differently to a combination of scent and sound than they do to either individually. This new research seems to align nicely with historical observations made in the mid-1800s by French perfumerist G. W. Septimus Piesse.

While the authors are thinking about pragmatic applications (like increasing the bomb-sniffing sensitivity of dogs) I can’t help but wonder what this could mean for the beauty industry. Just as restaurants recommend pairing certain wines with particular kinds of food, perhaps fragrance marketers will start recommending which songs to play while wearing a certain perfume?

I can’t say that I’m surprised but it turns out that, just like in the real world, men in the virtual world judge women by their looks.

Avatar research

New Scientist reports on an Indiana University study which showed the degree of empathy that men showed toward virtual avatars depended on their attractiveness. The study was framed as a medical ethics question:  male panelists were asked to play the role of doctor for a female patient who asked that they not disclose certain medical information to her husband. The patient’s avatars were presented as either a real woman superimposed on a computer generated (CG) background or a CG woman  on the same CG background. The images were then either edited to move in a smooth, natural way, or a a jerky, unnatural way. It turns out that the avatar “doctor” was more likely to go along with the avatar “patient’s” request if he considered her to be  attractive.

The study director concluded that “The different response from volunteers could suggest men showed more empathy towards characters that they see as a potential mate….” Of course nothing is ever that simple:  another researcher believes that the men’s response could be related to the fact that the avatars were presented as too sexy (with a bare midriff and fuller breasts.) This difference between the real and avatar may have made the men think the avatar version was “loose” and less honest. You can follow the link to read the entire debate but which ever way you choose to interpret the data it could provide an interesting glimpse inside the male psyche.

Hoconnor asks…I’ve always heard that hair grows faster in the summer. Is this true? Why? And if so, is there a way to recreate the summer benefit in the winter (such as with the addition of humidifiers, heat lamps, diet changes?)

The Right Brain responds:

We’ve said this before and we mean it: the members of the Beauty Brains Forum are awesome! After Hoconnor posted this question, SarahF and Lelaleia did some research and found several interesting references. Even though Left Brain admitted to being stumped on this one, these additional resources made us think. That’s the beauty of true science – we’re always glad to reconsider our positions when new data comes in. You can read the entire discussion in the original Forum post, but we’ll recap the highlights here.

Summer time tresses

1. Seasonal Changes in Human Hair Growth

“… The rate of growth of the beard was lowest in January and February and increased steadily from March to July to reach a peak about 60% above the winter level. The rate of growth of thigh hair showed a similar pattern though with less pronounced differences.”

2. Seasonal Variation in Trichogram in Chilean Subjects

“During summer the percentage of telogen increases and the percentage of anagen decreases. This study confirms the presence of seasonal variations in normal trichogram.”

3. Seasonality of Hair Shedding in Healthy Women

“These results confirm the findings of former authors who have indicated seasonal changes in human hair growth, though this is the first study performed systematically in a representative number of women.”

It looks like there is reasonable evidence that hair grows faster in the summer. What an interesting and surprising finding! Isn’t science wonderful?

I got a lot of crap last week for my post on “Why Guys May Like You Better If You Don’t Wear Perfume.” As one of our readers pointed out, it was supposed to be tongue in cheek but apparently I failed miserably. But even my lousy science writing wasn’t nearly as bad this beauty science story linking hair color and aggression.

Bad ass blondes?

According to the Times Online, a study at the University of California showed that women with lighter hair color are more aggressive and “warlike.” Shocking, eh? But before all the blondes in the audience start sending in hate mail, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Thank god for science bloggers like Ryan Sager at True Slant who do their homework. Ryan questioned the results in the Times article so he sent an email to the author asking for clarification. It turns out the author DID NOT publish the study in question. The author told Ryan, and I quote, “I’m afraid you, and thousands of others for that matter, have been badly misinformed. I have never done any research that shows blondes are more aggressive, entitled, angry or ‘warlike’ than brunette or redheads.” In fact, when the author did break his data down by hair color in actually showed the opposite effect! Apparently the Times Online were sloppy fact checkers, to say the least.

So, there are two things you should take away from today’s post: blondes are not more aggressive then brunettes and red heads and you should always be skeptical when you read science reports in the press.  Even when they come from the Beauty Brains!

Thanks to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast for introducing us to this story.