There are lots of reasons students cheat — lack of preparation, lack of academic aptitude, sheer laziness. Now a new study suggests another explanation: it’s coded in their personality.
‘Frankenfish’ May Soon Be Spawning: Is Genetically Modified Salmon Safe?
I haven’t decided what to think about the controversial “Frankenfish,” the genetically modified salmon whose maker, Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, is seeking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval — and seems …
Family MattersParenting
Why Most Moms Don’t Follow Breast-Feeding Recommendations
When it comes to breast-feeding, there’s good news and bad news. The former is that lots of U.S. mothers – 75% — are initiating breast-feeding. The latter? Less than a quarter are persevering a full year, which is the …
CommittedCulture
White House Kids’ Books: Whose is Worst?
President Obama took a little flak when it was announced this week that he’d be penning an illustrated kids book, called Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters. Wags suggested, among other things, that perhaps the leader of the …
Did the Rise of Cities Help HIV Take Off?
In this week’s Science, researchers led by Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona and Preston Marx of the Tulane National Primate Research Center looked at the history of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) — the primate …
Study: Imbalanced Metabolism Linked to Childhood Asthma
Doctors have long suspected a link between obesity and asthma, but it may be an underlying cause of obesity — poor metabolism due to inactivity or an unhealthy diet — that is actually related to the respiratory condition. New …
Family MattersExercise
Study: To Build a Better Youth Athlete, Slug Sports Drinks
Team sports ain’t what they used to be. Parents jeer, coaches demand and kids — understandably — are under a lot of pressure to perform.
Not Faking It: Why a Placebo Can Improve Sex Life
The power of a capsule of sugar to relieve depression or ease back pain is called the placebo response: as long as you believe you are taking medicine, you often get better. (Actually, placebo response even shows up in clinical …
CommittedChildhood
Another Cause of Early Puberty in Girls: Absent Dads
Kids getting older younger — KGOY, as it’s known — is not just a cultural phenomenon. Girls are literally hitting puberty at a younger age, and alarming the health community, since early onset puberty is often associated with …
Family MattersParenting
Moms: Guilty of Driving Their Daughters to Early Puberty?
As if mom were not to blame for enough already, new research is showing a link between early puberty in girls and a lack of maternal-infant bonding.
Whooping Cough Cases May Break Record in California
With nine deaths and 4,017 illnesses reported, California is on track to break a 55-year record in pertussis, or whooping cough, infections — a highly contagious upper respiratory illness that affects children in …
How Do You Wreck the Mind of a Child? One Word: War
As yet another round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks crank up, here’s something that the intractable parties on both sides might consider: Neither country is going to have much of a future if they persist in driving their kids crazy.
New Weird Source of Antimicrobial Drugs: Cockroach Brains?
As I wrote recently, many of our most useful medications come from bizarre sources, ranging from mold from Adriatic castles to Gila monster spit and horse urine. Soon, cockroach brains may be added to this profoundly unappetizing list.