Free Play Won’t Make Your Child Smarter
It might seem odd to think of pre-kindergarten toddlers as students in need of teachers, but the latest research suggests that some form of instruction may help children to better prepare for school.
Park's latest book is The Stem Cell Hope: How Stem Cell Medicine Can Change Our Lives.
Alice Park
Alice Park is a staff writer at TIME. Since 1993, she has reported on the breaking frontiers of health and medicine in articles covering issues such as AIDS, anxiety and Alzheimer's disease. Park has received two CASE media fellowships — the first in 2000 to Harvard Medical School, where she designed a program focused on the latest understanding of AIDS, and the second in 2003 to UCLA's Medical School, where she researched the growing number of clinical applications of genomic research. In addition, Park's work has been recognized with awards of excellence from the National Arthritis Foundation as well as the National Headache Foundation.
Articles from Contributor
Are You a Type D Personality? Your Heart May Be at Risk
Stress is a major contributor to heart disease, so it’s no surprise that researchers have associated anxious Type A personalities with a greater risk of heart attack. Now they’ve connected another personality profile with heart …
Potential for New Blood Test for Alzheimer’s
With the Alzheimer’s Association preparing to release new guidelines for diagnosing the degenerative brain disease ever earlier in a patient’s lifetime, the race is on to find new and simpler ways of testing for the disorder. …
AHA: Don’t Be Fooled, Smokeless Tobacco Isn’t Exactly Safe
If you think chewing on tobacco is any better for your health than smoking it, the American Heart Association (AHA) respectfully disagrees. The national nonprofit group released a statement Monday discouraging smokers from …
Post-H1N1, Why You Still Need to Worry About Flu
The H1N1 pandemic has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of the flu strain that started it all.
Latest Ruling Opens Stem Cell Research, But Experts Worry for the Long Term
The former Congressman behind a 1996 law that prohibits the government from funding research that harms or destroys embryos say he is “gratified” by a recent federal judge’s ruling that current federal funding of embryonic …
Why City Life Adds to Your Risk of Psychosis
Life in the big city can be tough, and as many urban dwellers know, it can lead to feelings of isolation and even promote a greater risk of developing a mental disorder such as depression.
But what accounts for that increased …
Study: Exercise Can Protect People at High Risk of Alzheimer’s
Staying active is good for the body, and the latest research shows it might benefit the mind as well.
In a study of individuals who carried a high-risk gene for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers found that those who exercised …
Declines in U.S. Smoking Rates Remain Stalled at 20%
For the fifth year in a row, the decline in smoking rates among adult Americans remains stalled. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 20% of adults still smoke, a figure that hasn’t changed since 2005.
Using Videos to Help Diagnose Autism in Babies
The causes of autism are still unclear, but evidence is building that early intervention — before age 1 — may help mitigate or even prevent the developmental disorder from occurring in the first place. Making such early treatment more possible, researchers now report a promising new way of detecting autism in infants as young as 14 months.
Understanding the High C-section Rate in the US
The percentage of babies born by Cesarean section remains high, with one in three first-time moms giving birth via the surgical method according to the latest government study.
Scientists belonging to the Consortium on Safe Labor, a research project supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human …
Timing of Birth Linked to Cerebral Palsy
There may be one more reason for expectant moms to think twice before scheduling an elective Cesarean delivery to minimize the time they are pregnant. Researchers report that early or late delivery can increase the chances that a newborn develops cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a movement disorder that doctors believe …
Can Eating Vegetables Prevent Lung Cancer?
If you smoke, you know you’re putting yourself at increased risk of lung cancer. But if you boost the variety of fruits and vegetables that you eat, you may be able to lower those odds a bit.
Scientists in Europe report in the American Association for Cancer Research’s journal that smokers who consumed the greatest variety of fruits …
