Astrophysicists have found a star-like object with a surface temperature just one tenth that of the Sun.
The cold object is known as a brown dwarf: a ’failed’ star that never achieved the mass required to begin nuclear fusion reactions in its core.
BBC says this one--called J0034-00--is thought to have a surface temperature of just 600-700 Kelvin (up to 430C/800F).
It is the coldest solitary brown dwarf ever seen, according to the British team that discovered it.
This find further tests the boundary between high-mass gas planets and the smallest brown dwarfs.
“Physically, stars, brown dwarfs and the gas planets are all the same thing - they’re just blobs of gas with different mass,“ said Dr Steve Warren, of Imperial College London, who led the project.
“And as this work progresses, we’re going to start finding things between the stars which have the masses of planets, and what are we going to call them?“
The brown dwarf was first spotted by his colleague Dr Daniel Mortlock.
It has a mass of just 15-30 times that of Jupiter and a similar diameter.
It was spotted in the early stages of the world’s deepest ever near-infrared sky survey--using the UKIRT telescope in Hawaii.
It is still too early to say exactly how far away it is from Earth, but the research team believes it could be about 50 light-years.
And that is not so far, compared with the distance from some of the stars that can be seen with the naked eye.

A purple fluorescent frog of the genus Atelopus (u) and a species of dwarf catfish, called "big mouth" by its discoverers, (d) are among the 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname.

Purple fluorescent frogs are one of 24 new species found in the South American highlands of Suriname, conservationists reported on Monday, warning that these creatures are threatened by illegal gold mining.
The discovery of so many species outside the insect realm is extraordinary and points up the need to survey distant regions, Leeanne Alonso of Conservation International, which led the expedition that found the new species, told AP.
The two-tone frog--whose skin is covered with irregular fluorescent lavender loops on a background of aubergine--was discovered in 2006 as part of a survey of Suriname’s Nassau plateau, the conservation group said.
Scientists combing Suriname’s Nassau plateau and Lely Mountains found four other new frog species aside from the purple one, six species of fish, 12 dung beetles and a new ant species, the organization said in a statement.
They also found 27 species native to the Guayana Shield region, which spreads over Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana and northern Brazil. One of these was the rare armored catfish, which conservationists feared was extinct because gold miners had contaminated a creek where it was last seen 50 years ago.
Including the new species, the scientists observed 467 species at the two sites, ranging from large cats like panthers and pumas, to monkeys, reptiles, bats and insects.
While these places are far from human civilization, they are totally unprotected and may be threatened by illegal gold-mining, which causes mercury pollution, Alonso said.
About 80 percent of Suriname is covered with dense rainforest.

Like hobos on a train, HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, uses a pre-existing transport system to leave one infected cell and infect new ones, Hopkins scientists have discovered. Their findings, published in the June issue of Plos Biology, counter the prevailing belief that HIV and other retroviruses can only leave and enter cells by virus-specific mechanisms.
“It appears that cells make HIV and other retroviruses by a naturally occurring export mechanism,“ says Stephen Gould, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Chemistry at Johns Hopkins. Cells normally export certain membrane-bound molecules to the outside world by means of small sacs known as exosomes. By studying human T-cells under a microscope, Gould, Yi Fang, Ning Wu, and other members of his team discovered what’s needed to qualify proteins for exosomal travel, Science Daily reports.
“Surprisingly, all that’s needed for a protein to get out of the cell in exosomes are the ability to clump together and attach to the cell’s membrane,“ Gould says.
The major HIV protein ’Gag’ has both of these properties that cells sense in selecting exosomal cargoes. When the researchers removed the tethers or clumping signals from Gag it could no longer get out of the cell. However, if they were replaced with synthetic membrane anchors and clumping domains Gag regained its ability to get out of cells in exosomes.
Gould speculates that cells may have initially developed exosomes as a quality control mechanism to get rid of clumped proteins, which are generally broken and useless. However, just as retroviruses exploit other cell processes for their own ends, it now appears they rely on exosomes to get out of infected cells and infect fresh cells. As such, drugs that interfere with exosome formation might be one way to inhibit HIV infections.
“Viruses like HIV use pathways we barely recognize, much less understand,“ Gould says. “Our paper highlights the importance of studying their basic biochemistry and cell biology, which can yield a better understanding of normal human biology as well as identify new avenues in the fight against human disease.“
The research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health
Authors on the paper are Yi Fang, Ning Wu, Xin Gan, Wanhua Yan, James Morell and Gould, all of Johns Hopkins

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in highest amounts in flaxseed and perilla seed oil and in small amounts in some nuts, green leafy vegetables, canola and soy, wheat germ and black currant seeds as well as cold water fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna.

Diets with liberal servings of fish, nuts and seeds rich in nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids can help lower a person’s blood pressure, according to a study released on Monday.
“A large percentage of people between ages 20 and 60 have a rise in blood pressure, and by middle age many have high blood pressure,“ said Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, professor emeritus of preventive medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, who worked on the study.
“We’re looking at dietary factors that may help prevent that rise, and omega-3 fatty acids are a small, but important piece of the action,“ Stamler said.
The study suggests that people who eat diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids have slightly lower blood pressure, on average, than people who eat diets with less of the nutrient, Reuters says.
“With blood pressure, every millimeter counts. The effect of each nutrient is apparently small but independent, so together they can add up to a substantial impact on blood pressure,“ said Dr. Hirotsugu Ueshima of Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan.
“If you can reduce blood pressure a few millimeters from eating less salt, losing a few pounds, avoiding heavy drinking, eating more vegetables, whole grains and fruits (for their fiber, minerals, vegetable protein and other nutrients) and getting more omega-3 fatty acids, then you’ve made a big difference,“ Ueshima said in a statement.
When it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, not all fish or nuts are equal. Fatty fish such as trout, salmon and mackerel are rich in this crucial group of nutrients.
Walnuts, flaxseed and canola oil are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and people who got their omega-3s from these sources had just as much benefit as those who get them by eating fish, the study found.
Omega-3 fatty acid intake has also been linked to better brain development and a lower overall risk of cancer and heart disease.

Researchers have identified a dozen compounds in apple peel that may be partially responsible for the anti-cancer activities of whole apples.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Or, what appears to be more accurate: An apple peel a day might help keep cancer at bay, according to a new Cornell study.
Cornell researchers have identified a dozen compounds--triterpenoids--in apple peel that either inhibit or kill cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Three of the compounds have not previously been described in the literature, Physorg.com says.
“We found that several compounds have potent anti-proliferative activities against human liver, colon and breast cancer cells and may be partially responsible for the anti-cancer activities of whole apples,“ says Rui Hai Liu, Cornell associate professor of food science. Liu is affiliated with Cornell’s Institute of Comparative and Environmental Toxicology and is senior author of the study, which is online and published this month in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
In previous Cornell studies, apples had been found not only to fight cancer cells in the laboratory but also to reduce the number and size of mammary tumors in rats. The Cornell researchers now think that the triterpenoids may be doing much of the anti-cancer work.
“Some compounds were more potent and acted differently against the various cancer cell lines, but they all show very potent anti-cancer activities and should be studied further,“ said Liu.
With co-author Xiangjiu He, a Cornell postdoctoral researcher, Liu analyzed the peel from 230 pounds of red delicious apples from the Cornell Orchard and isolated their individual compounds. After identifying the structures of the promising compounds in the peel, the researchers tested the pure compounds against cancer cell growth in the laboratory. In the past, Liu has also identified compounds called phytochemicals--mainly flavonoids and phenolic acids--in apples and other foods that appear to be have anti-cancer properties as well, including inhibiting tumor growth in human breast cancer cells.
“We believe that a recommendation that consumers to eat five to 12 servings of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily is appropriate to reduce the risks of chronic diseases, including cancer, and to meet nutrient requirements for optimum health,“ said Liu.

Researchers in Oregon, US, say they have identified a protein marker for prostate cancer survival.
The Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute told Science Daily the C-reactive protein, also known as CRP, is elevated in the presence of inflammation.
“This could mean that a simple blood test that is already available could help patients and doctors make better decisions as they become more informed about what to expect from the prostate cancer they are facing,“ Dr. Tomasz Beer, director of the Prostate Cancer Research program, said in a release.
The findings were presented Friday at the American Society of Clinical Oncologists meeting in Chicago.

Scientists have found noninvasive ultrasound effectively shrinks uterine fibroids and significantly relieves fibroid-related symptoms in women.
The multicenter clinical trial led by Dr. Fiona Fennessy of the Harvard Medical School showed magnetic resonance-guided, focused ultrasound surgery allows radiologists to precisely target fibroids without harming healthy surrounding tissue, UPI reported.
“This treatment immediately stops blood flow in the treated fibroid tissue, which results in a significant, sustained decrease in symptoms for up to 12 months,“ said Fennessy.
Uterine fibroids are benign growths of the muscle in the uterus. According to the National Institutes of Health, at least 25 percent of women in the United States age 25 to 50 suffer from symptomatic uterine fibroids. Fibroid symptoms can include excessive menstrual bleeding, enlarged uterine size, frequent urination, pelvic pressure or pain and infertility.
The research is reported in the June issue of the journal Radiology.

People who are looking to ease depression may have a new treatment option--marriage.
A recent study suggests that marriage provides a greater psychological boost to depressed people than to happy people, even if the marriage is so-so.
According to LiveScience, previous studies have suggested that the psychological perks of marriage depend upon marriage quality--a happy marriage gives rise to a happy couple, and vice versa.
Other studies have shown that depressed people, who tend to communicate poorly and require more caring and support than happy people, also end up in unhappier marriages.
So Adrianne Frech, a sociology graduate student at Ohio State University, and her colleague, Kristi Williams, speculated that happy people would garner more psychological perks from marriage than depressed people.
When they teased apart how marriage affected those who had been depressed at the start of the study to those who had been happy, however, they came across something unexpected. The depressed who married scored lower on the depression scale than the depressed who did not marry.
In other words, marriage provided a much bigger psychological boost to the depressed subjects than to the happy subjects.
“We were surprised,“ Frech told LiveScience. “We expected the depressed to have worse marital quality and therefore benefit less from a transition into marriage.“
The findings, to be published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, hold true even though depressed people do have unhappier marriages. “The depressed benefit more from a transition into marriage despite their having, on average, worse marital quality,“ Frech noted.
The big remaining question, she says, is why depressed people benefit more from marriage than happy people. It could be that marriage provides the companionship and emotional support needed to help alleviate depression, she said.

If taking your infant to swim class seems like a fun way of bonding-with-baby, you might want to think twice about the idea.
That’s because, according to HealthDay News, a new European study has found that infants who were regularly exposed to the chlorinated air of indoor swimming pools were more at risk for developing asthma than were infants who didn’t swim indoors.
“Our data suggest that infant swimming practice in chlorinated indoor swimming pools is associated with airway changes that, along with other factors, seem to predispose children to the development of asthma and recurrent bronchitis,“ wrote the Belgian researchers. They also found the effect was stronger for babies who swam indoors and were also exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.
The findings appear in the June issue of Pediatrics.
The study authors suggest that the risk might be higher because exposure to chemicals, such as chlorine, may alter the lining of the lungs, predisposing youngsters to airway disease.