Woody vine may help prevent kidney stones

Urolithiasis is usually treated by surgery. However, the high recurrence rate and high cost of treatment call for a non-surgical medical solution. In the Dai minority region of China, the perennial woody vine of Aspidopterys ...

A new field of research: Crystal traces in fossil leaves

In fossil leaves, puzzling structures are often visible under the microscope. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now been able to show for the first time that they originate from calcium oxalate crystals. On the one ...

Does zinc inhibit or promote growth of kidney stones? Well, both

A funny thing happened on the way to discovering how zinc impacts kidney stones—two different theories emerged, each contradicting the other. One: Zinc stops the growth of the calcium oxalate crystals that make up the stones; ...

Environmentally friendly production of mandelic acid

Sometimes potentially useful enzymes are not easy to discover because their biocatalytic capabilities may go beyond their natural and thus known range of action. By recombining a newly discovered enzymatic capability, a research ...

Kidney stones have distinct geological histories, study finds

A geologist, a microscopist and a doctor walk into a lab and, with their colleagues from across the nation, make a discovery that overturns centuries of thought about the nature and composition of kidney stones. The team's ...

Drinking green tea helps prevent kidney stones

(PhysOrg.com) -- Drinking green tea can help prevent the formation of large kidney stones, report Chinese scientists in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal CrystEngComm.