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Scientists have discovered that stress is [one / once] factor in turning our hair grey, white or silver - at [last / least] , in mice. Stem cell biologists from Harvard University in the USA conducted a [series / serial] of tests on mice to ascertain the [effects / affects] of stress on the rodents. The scientists injected the mice with an [ingredient / increment] found in chili peppers that gives them their [hot / heat] . The [compound / confound] made the mice stressed. This caused a hair-colouring pigment in the mice to go into [overtake / overdrive] as a reaction to the stress and deplete colour-regenerating stem cells. This caused the mice's hair to rapidly [move / turn] white. Lead researcher, Professor Ya-Chieh Hsu, said: "The detrimental impact of stress that we discovered was [beyond / behind] what I imagined."

People have [wondered / wandered] for centuries about the link between stress and greying hair. It is [belief / believed] that France's Queen Marie Antoinette's hair turned white the night before she was [headed / beheaded] during the French Revolution in the late-eighteenth century. More recently, we have [witnessed / trialled] the locks of presidents and other world leaders quickly lose color. The [stains / strains] of leadership seem to go to the roots of things, especially hair [follicles / icicles] . Professor Hsu said the loss of the pigment-regenerating stem cells cannot be [reserved / reversed] . She said: "Once they're gone, you can't [regenerate / regurgitate] pigment any more. The damage is [permanent / permafrost] ." Worryingly, she hypothesised that stress could [be / have] responsible for accelerating the aging process.