The liver (肝脏) cleans the blood and helps remove poison from the body. But liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world, and now researchers are developing a new form of treatment. They say it reduces the chances of harming the patient.

This treatment involves the use of natural, non-poisonous chemicals from plants.That is why the researchers call it a “green” method for fighting cancer.

Kattesh Katti is a professor of radiology and physics at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine. For more than 10 years, he has studied the use of nanotechnology (纳米技术) to fight cancer.

Nanotechnology is the science of making things unimaginably small. For this study, Katti used extremely small objects to target and destroy cancer cells in the livers of mice and human cells in the laboratory.

Kattesh Katti used very small particles (颗粒) of gold. The gold was covered in a protective material. He says the particles attract cancer cells. Those cells are far more affected by lower levels of heat than healthy cells.

Once the particles travel to and connect with the cells, they are heated with a laser. That destroys the cancer cells, but the healthy ones around them live.” The patient will be administered with these nano particles. Within a couple of hours, the patient will be treated with lasers, and then the patient can go home. So, there is no radioactivity. There is no harmful waste. There is no bad effect on the patient.”

What that means is that the patient would not have the same side effects that one can have from radiation and chemotherapy (化疗).Chemotherapy drugs often are poisonous. While they kill off the cancer cells, they are also poisonous to the healthy cells and the patient can get very sick.

About ten men in every hundred suffer from acritochromacy in some way. Women are luckier, only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Obviously, women are less likely to be color blind. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!

There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man can not see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.

Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”. These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors. There are also millions of “rods” but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but no color.

Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes like blue but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human beings also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night. One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around.

Listening to the radio is better at preventing dementia (痴呆) than exercise, a new study suggests. Dementia is one of Britain’s biggest killers, with one in ten male deaths caused by the neurodegenerative (神经退行性的) condition, and one in eight women.

But scientists have long believed that some hobbies and activities can protect the brain by delaying and potentially even completely protecting against the disease.

A large-scale review from scientists at Peking University in Beijing reviewed 38 different studies looking at what pastimes are most beneficial. The data included more than two million people and found that leisure activities were effective at protecting against the disease, lowering the risk by 17 percent, but some hobbies were found to be better than others. Mental activity — which includes reading, writing, watching television, listening to the radio and playing a musical instrument — was found to reduce the risk by 23 percent. In contrast, physical activity, including walking, running, swimming, dancing and yoga, lowered risk by just 17 percent. However, this was still better than people whose leisure time was spent doing social activities like visiting friends, going to church or volunteering, as this saw risk drop by just 7 percent.

“This meta-analysis suggests that being active has benefits, and there are plenty of activities that are easy to incorporate into daily life that may be beneficial to the brain,” said study author Dr Lin Lu of Peking University. “Our research found that leisure activities may reduce the risk of dementia. Future studies should include larger sample sizes and longer follow-up time to reveal more links between leisure activities and dementia.”

Dr Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “There isn’t any conclusive evidence for particular brain training programmes or activities that are especially good for staying sharp, but activities that are mentally challenging, sociable and also enjoyable are likely to be better for the brain than spending time alone or engaged in passive hobbies.”