The brightest take on this week’s science

The ovaries are involved in far more than just reproduction.

When menstruation ceases, these oval-shaped glands don’t just retire and sit there in the body, twiddling their thumbs.

New research among 28 postmenopausal women suggests that after menopause, the ovaries go through a career change.

Ovaries from the 50-59 age group had more proteins related to regulating RNA and DNA, and maintaining the tissue structure and cells.

The findings support research on mice, published earlier this year, that found protein profiles produced by ovarian tissue shift progressively with age.

"I was predicting that if we took a 50-year-old ovary, a 60-year-old ovary, a 70-year-old, an 80-year-old ovary, they would all look exactly the same, have no eggs, and basically be non-functional," says reproductive biologist Francesca Duncan of Northwestern University.

But that’s not what researchers found at all…

Read more.

Creatine is one of the most popular supplements on the market, and yet we still don’t know what its effects are on the brain.

Now, new research in rats suggests that for some people, creatine could be an "excellent candidate" to preserve brain health.

In rats with colitis, a chronic form of gut inflammation, creatine supplements reduced brain inflammation and damage to neurons.

For rats without this gut disorder, however, creatine had little effect on the brain.

The findings suggest that creatine supplements may help protect the brain from the effects of gut inflammation, at least in rats.

But there may be differences for males and females…

Read more.

A) Wound
B) Gallbladder
C) Dragonfruit
D) Deep-sea clam

Answer at the bottom.

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An epilepsy drug called lacosamide may also be effective in cases of osteoarthritis, according to new research.

In human cartilage cells and mouse models, researchers have shown that lacosamide has the potential to be a two-pronged treatment.

This drug may not only ease pain associated with arthritis, it may also reverse some of the damage it causes to joints.

In mice, the medicine seems to be most effective for osteoarthritis when injected rather than taken orally.

The injection delivers the medicine in a hydrogel that holds it in the joint and releases it slowly.

Further tests are needed, but a drug like that could meet a major unmet need for patients with this painful condition.

Read more.

The only country in the world named after an element is Argentina.

The name comes from argentum, the Latin word for silver.

That’s why on the periodic table, this element is labeled Ag.

Check out what happens when bleached coral gets a ‘kiss of life’ from healthy coral.

Read more about this beautiful phenomenon here.

Microscope answer: Gallbladder.

This is the inside lining of a gallbladder, magnified 1,200 times. The gallbladder stores bile to help the body digest fats. The pink stuff inside is the underlying connective tissue.