<img alt=“Jetlag.jpg” src=“https://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/Jetlag.jpg” width=“243” height=“136” align=“right” border=0 hspace=“10px”/>

— Despite her famously coy pose, Mona Lisa might have had less to smile about when it came to her health. A researcher from Palermo University in Italy suggests that her portrait indicates she has high cholesterol and a fatty-tissue tumor in her right eye. (BBC)

— Electromagnetic waves similar to those from cell phones appeared to mitigate the build-up of beta amyloid protein in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. The preliminary study, in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, also reported that the Alzheimer’s mice exposed to these waves performed like their control counterparts on a memory test. The scientists stress that “caution should be taken in extrapolating these mouse studies to humans.” But given the bad rap cell phones have, it’s certainly likely to get people talking. (Reuters)

— An analysis of sales at the Starbucks coffee chain has indicated that the posting of calorie information — as required by a controversial New York law — caused people to consume 6% fewer calories per transaction (and 26% fewer among those who had averaged more than 250 calories per purchase). The bottom line: full disclose means that we end up less full. (Reuters)

— The US Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to approve the first drug specifically for jetlag. The drug, from the Pennsylvania-based company Cephalon, is called Nuvigil. But don’t forget that Viagra also works for jetlag — well, at least in hamsters. (NYTimes)

Image by Efil’s Good via Flickr Creative Commons