Molecules

Red, red wine
Scientists can now tell whether a glass of deep red vino acquires its color from grapes or rice. Deep reds can attract a higher price and winemakers will sometimes blend wines with Rossissimo, a wine that’s extra rich in red pigment. In some markets pigments extracted from black rice are also used as “correctors,” but in Italy this practice is frowned upon. Reporting in the Sept. 9 Analytica Chimica Acta, Italian researchers report that high-end spectroscopic techniques can discern rice red from Rossissimo red. —Rachel Ehrenberg

Omega-3s down, suicide risk up
The heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils might also help keep the head healthy. A new study finds that U.S. military personnel who were at high risk for suicide also had low levels of DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, the major omega-3 used by the brain. The study does not establish cause and effect, but it adds to a growing body of evidence linking low levels of omega-3s with mood problems including depression. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., report the work online August 23 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. —Rachel Ehrenberg

Wines’ notes
Descriptions of wine typically involve notes of fruit or musk, not piano or woodwind. But people do make associations between a wine’s scent and particular musical instruments, new research shows. When 30 study participants had to choose a sound to match a wine’s bouquet, five odors were consistently linked with particular instruments, scientists from the University of Oxford in England report in an upcoming Chemical Senses. Vanilla and apricot connoted woodwind and piano; blackberry also inspired primarily piano; and musky wines were linked to brass. —Rachel Ehrenberg