By Julie Cullen, Managing Editor, American Nurse Today

So, I really just thought this was pretty cool…on a couple of levels. Recent research published in Scientific Reports has discovered that kidney stones (which put a good friend of mine in the hospital with excruciating pain more than once) are really quite beautiful. The pictures of slices of the stones in the New York Times make them look like something you’d see in a kaleidoscope—shards of bright colors and unusual shapes.

But, pretty or not, the research may actually help providers target treatment based on the changing composition of kidney stones themselves to dissolve them completely. News my friend will certainly cheer about.