It is not very common for blockbuster directors to be deep sea diving to the lowest known point on the Earth’s surface. But then James Cameron is not your usual glamour stricken director, is he? Cameron has announced the release of Deepsea Challenge, a 3D documentary of his 11km descent in the Pacific Ocean.

The dive was funded in conjunction with National Geographic and a new lightweight 3D camera was especially designed for the movie. The camera was able to withstand the massive pressures at extreme depth. “We spent a fair bit of the development budget, figuring out how we would be lighting it and how we would do 3D photography at full ocean depth. We did tackle a lot of challenges but, always, the thinking was this expedition is going to get paid for by a film,” Cameron said.

The man sure knows his stuff and his interest in deep-sea exploration is nothing new. After all, his previous documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, also a 3D film, was made from footage shot during an earlier dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

This is it. A new discovery by scientists at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania may soon lead to new treatments for hair loss in men. The team of researchers has found an abnormal amount of a protein called Prostaglandin D2 in the bald scalp of men.

What does this protein do? Well, according to the researchers a prostaglandin known as PGD2 and its derivative, 15-dPGJ2, inhibit hair growth in both humans and animal.

“Although a different prostaglandin was known to increase hair growth, our findings were unexpected, as prostaglandins haven’t been thought about in relation to hair loss. Yet it made sense that there was an inhibitor of hair growth, based on our earlier work looking at hair follicle stem cells,” said George Cotsarelis, MD, chair and professor of Dermatology, and author on the studies.

Here we raise a toast to what appears to be a hair-raising find!

Processed food and sedentary lifestyle have found new victims: pets. Yes, more and more pets are now being put in the obese category. Did you know, researchers from the United Kingdom (UK) have predicted that over half of its dogs will be obese by 2022? No surprise then that the launch of world’s ‘first stair lift for obese pets’ has been announced. A UK-based insurance company is prototyping a device that will help pudgy pets climb stairs, which they're calling "Stair Lift of the Dog 2022", as reported in the Daily Mail.

According to the company, “extra layers of 'puppy' fat can put pressure on an animal's back and cause a plethora of bone, respiratory and skin conditions which can render a pet unable to climb a set of stairs.” The stairlift comes with a strategically-placed 'paw push' start button that the animal can activate. And of course, it all comes at a price. Approximately £5,000 (US $8,000).

It is a building made out of concrete but we bet you can not spot the cement! We are talking about. Hotel Parkroyal on Pickering. Why are we talking about it? Because it is all set to define the Singapore skyline with its 'hotel-in-a-garden' concept. The building has many ‘sustainable features’ and is planted with shade trees, palms, overhanging creepers and a variety of other plant species. Though it will open only by the end of this year, it has already received Singapore’s Green Mark Platinum score, the nation’s highest environmental certification.

Here is why. The building uses ‘pre-fabricated parts’ and has open sides that promote natural lighting and ventilation throughout the structure. Rooftop photovoltaic panels provide energy for reticulation and softscape lighting and a rainwater harvesting system ensures that no new water is used to irrigate the green spaces. Now is this sustainable architecture? Only the future will tell.

Talk about inventions! Did you know botox, made famous by the high and mighty for soothing facial wrinkles, will soon be put to a better use? Yes, according to researchers at Leicester University in the United Kingdom (UK), botox could well be an ‘effective treatment for women suffering from overactive bladder syndrome’. The team of scientists found that injecting a small quantity of the ‘toxic’ directly into the wall of the bladder works. Here are the results of the study: It cut the number of times they needed the bathroom by a quarter. Also, it halved the number of times when women with moderate to severe urinary incontinence urgently needed the lavatory.

“Overactive bladder syndrome is a relatively common health issue which affects up to a fifth of women aged 40 and over,” said Dr Douglas Tincello, leader of the study. “Hopefully it means much better treatment for this condition which can severely impact on quality of life and cause women considerable embarrassment,” he said.

The study was carried out at eight urogyna­ecology centres in the UK from 2006 to 2009, involving 240 afflicted women, as reported in the Daily Telegraph.