Minerva

After a cremation in Japan, it's usual for a bereaved family to move to the “pick up bone room” and use chopsticks to pick out the bones from the movable hearth or cremation tray and put them into an urn. In western Japan they pick up only the bones they regard as important, while in eastern Japan they pick up all of them (Pharos International 2006(Winter):3-12 www.cremation.org.uk).

The protein that facilitates the transfer of “good” HDL to “bad” LDL cholesterol in blood is a curved tunnel, say scientists. Cholesteryl ester transfer protein has been shown to transfer HDL cholesterol to LDL cholesterol. The boomerang shape of the protein allows HDL to bind on to its concave surface. Researchers successfully altered lipid transfer by blocking the tunnel's mechanism, so drugs that interfere …