Cholesterol yo-yo
Cholesterol levels vary by as much as 20 per cent during the menstrual cycle, a study of 259 women has found. Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health say these fluctuations should be taken into account when measuring women鈥檚 cholesterol levels (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, ).
Lethal desert downpour
Advertisement
A cloudburst that hit the town of Leh in Ladakh, northern India, on 6 August has killed at least 150 people. Hundreds more are missing after flash floods and mudslides washed away houses that weren鈥檛 built to withstand such rainfall. Ladakh is a high-altitude desert region, in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.
Rubik鈥檚 mystery solved
What is the maximum number of moves needed to solve any possible scrambling of a Rubik鈥檚 cube? We now know the answer is 20, thanks to a team who combined the computing might of Google with some clever mathematical insights to check all 43 million billion possible positions. Their feat solves the biggest remaining puzzle presented by the cube.
It鈥檚 hotter than ever
Global average land surface temperatures for July and the period January to July were the warmest for 130 years, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The July figure was 1.03 掳C above the 20th-century average of 14.3 掳C.
Bad for the skin
Beer-drinking seems to be linked to the skin disease psoriasis. Of 82,000 women quizzed by researchers at Harvard Medical School, about 1000 had the disease 鈥� but those who drank five or more non-light beers a week were nearly twice as likely to have psoriasis as those who didn鈥檛 (Archives of Dermatology, ).