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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly recently posted a photo of the bright orange zinnias that blossomed on board the International Space Station (ISS). But Kelly made a mistake by claiming that it was the first ever flower to grow in space.

Around four years back, astronaut Don Pettit had grown a few different sorts of plants on board ISS. That experiment was labeled as a “personal biology experiment” by the American space agency.

As there was a lack of sophisticated growth chamber at the time, Pettit had to use plastic bags as pots to grow plants. Pettit successfully grew zucchini and broccoli sprouts as well as cultivated a sunflower to blossom.

The journal Astrobiology has carried a new research wherein The Australian National University (ANU) astronomers said that young habitable planets can become unstable very quickly. The planets that was once used to be a life-giving oasis transforms into a hellish hothouse or frozen wasteland at a very fast pace.

Lead author of the paper, Aditya Chopra, said, “The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens. Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive. Most early planetary environments are unstable”.

He said that for the production of a habitable planet, life forms have to regulate greenhouse gases like water and carbon dioxide for keeping surface temperatures stable.

For Sissy Smith, it was nothing less than a miracle, when she learnt that her son, Justin, has revived after being frozen for an entire night in subzero temperatures. The 26-year-old was about to be declared dead when he regained consciousness. The incident took place in February 2015. While, walking back towards home after a night out with friends at a bar, Justin Smith, was likely to have slipped and subsequently hit his head before falling onto a snowbank. Estimations had to be made by the doctors because Justin cannot remember anything.

A lot of debate is going on in various circles in the US about when women should start with mammograms: at the age of 40 or 50. But there is hardly any discussion on what should be the age to discontinue the precautionary practice against breast cancer, especially when a majority of the American population falls under the aged category.

Last week, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), through its draft breast cancer screening guidelines, suggested increasing the starting mammogram age of women from 40 to 50 years. In the process, the USPSTF chose to ignore the American Cancer Society’s claims that about 25% of women who die of breast cancer were diagnosed in their 40s.

If a woman is diagnosed with Melanoma, a skin cancer, during pregnancy, it’s a sign that there is an immediate need to visit dermatologist. Even a patient of Melanoma would find his disease intensifying rapidly, if chooses to go pregnant. The finding was published, as a warning, online in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology on January 20.

The study was carried out by Dr. Brian Gastman, a plastic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic and author of the study on 462 women diagnosed with Melanoma between 1988 and 2012.The women aged 49 or younger. The researchers studied the participants’ health for more than two years. The study, aimed to find connection between Melanoma and pregnancy, found that women suffering from Melanoma during pregnancy were at more risk than others.

Health experts have always advised to avoid the consumption of unhealthy fats that are present in red meat and dairy products in an effort to maintain health of our hearts. Animal fats are likely to stick to the walls of our heart vessels that can result in plagues, leading to heart attacks, strokes and various heart-related issues. However, a new study has revealed that an increase in the consumption of healthy fats is equally important to avoid heart diseases. The research involved the compilation of studies associated with dietary information of 3.8 billion people in 186 countries.