Health Issue: SHORT CUTS

SHORT CUTS: Tobacco plants may offer new beauty secrets     In what could redefine the usefulness of tobacco plants, an israeli scientist has developed a substance from the plant that he claims could be used for beauty enhancement and other medical purposes. Prof Oded Shoseyov of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has succeeded in producing from tobacco plants a replica of human collagen - the main protein in skin, tendons, bone, cartilage and connective tissues, As we age, the protein declines, allowing wrinkles to set in. But the new synthetic collagen, which is currently being marketed for medical purposes such as for bone and heart repairs, may someday be used cosmetically, the university said. How sharks smell blood from afar:      Scientists claim to have finally solved the mystery of how sharks cansmell a drop of blood in the ocean a quarter of a mile away. A team at Florida University has found that sharks' noses use "smell stereo" to detect tiny delays - no more than half a second long - inthe time that odours take to reach one nostril compared to the other. And according to the scientists, when the hunters experience such a lag, they will turn towards whichever side picked up the scent first.