Give parents credit

Before letting that free water bottle lure you into signing up for a credit card, take a minute to recall how often your parents discussed money, credit and debt with you before you left home. In a recent Penn State study, 589 students who had attended public and private American colleges during the 2001-2002 academic year were asked from whom they had received most of their financial advice, as well as how many credit cards they owned. The research team found that the average student was paying monthly credit card bills for 2.16 cards-though some owned as many as 22 active credit cards at the same time! The kicker? The more frequently students’ parents had talked to them about finances growing up, the less likely they were to carry credit card debt at college. Keep that in mind before you sign up.

-Miyoko Ohtake

Source: Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal

Nano hair care tips

Ohio State University engineers are cooking up a state-of-the-art hair conditioner, by using an Atomic Force Microscope to examine human hair at the nanometer scale. They report that hair is much more delicate than previously thought, and that most permanent damage to hair is caused by friction during everyday activities such as washing, drying, combing and brushing. Humidity causes hair to plump up and brush together, resulting in extreme wear and tear on the strands. They found also that current conditioners do not evenly coat the entire hair shaft, making hair damage and frizz unavoidable. The researchers hope to use the same methods to develop high-tech nail polishes and lipsticks.

-Chris Damdar

Source: Ultramicroscopy

US reaches out to the world’s amphibians

The global decline in amphibian species has the US government spending tens of millions of dollars a year-for at least a decade-in preservation costs. The captive breeding program is designed to help the several hundred species of frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians categorized as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable-according to the criterion established by the World Conservation Union. With further research, about a thousand more species could also be added onto the intervention list. Scientists believe amphibian species are reeling under the triple threats of fungal disease, pollution and habitat loss. Amphibians are used as an early-warning indicator for ecological decline that may impact other species, including humans.

-Wendy Gu

Source: BBC News