Discovered: the color of the Milky Way, a far away galaxy, weight gain denial, the best kind of doctors. 

• The Milky Way is officially white. Determining the color of our galaxy presents particular difficulties for astronomers because of our vantage point. "The problem is similar to determining the overall color of the Earth, when you're only able to tell what Pennsylvania looks like," explained researcher Jeffrey Newman. For example, from the inside, all the space dust makes our galaxy look all bright and pretty, as the latest, newly discovered star nursery to the right shows. But from an alien perspective, the Milky Way looks more subdued, as the photo above shows. "A very pure white, almost mirroring a fresh spring snowfall," the researchers explain. [University of Pittsburgh, Science Daily]
• The farthest galaxy away, ever. Speaking of galaxies, NASA researchers have discovered one 13.1 billion light-years away, using the Hubble Telescope. That's the farthest star-cluster known to human. Maybe there's some Death Star and light saber action going-on out there? One can dream ... [NASA]
• Women have a hard time recognizing weight gain. Considering our obsession with image and diet and exercise and obesity and anorexia, this latest finding comes as a surprise to us. Out of a sample of 466 women, nearly one third of the participants did not notice a weight gain of between 4.5 and 8.8 pounds. And some didn't notice additional weight of up to 11 pounds. These women apparently don't have passive aggressive mothers, who notice that kind of thing for them. [Eureka]
• The best kind of doctors. Some of us pick our doctors based on marriage potential, but for the rest of you, research has found that surgeons provide the safest care between ages 35 and 50. That almost matches up with physician's "peak performance" age, which happens between ages 30 and 50. Either way, nab a 35 year old hunky doctor and he should fix you up real good. [BMJ]

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