Waiting game: Women in the U.S. are waiting until they are older to have a baby – but they are not waiting to get married The number of children born outside marriage in the United States has increased dramatically to four out of ten of all births. Figures show that 41 per cent of children born in 2008 did not have married parents – up from 28 per cent in 1990. Researchers have concluded that although Christian values still play an important role in American society, public attitudes have changed. Having a child out of wedlock does not carry the stigma and shame it once did, they say. The study also found that in America there is a declining number of teenage mothers and rising numbers of older parents. By comparison, Britain has the worst teenage pregnancy rate in Europe with 45 per cent of children born outside of wedlock in 2008. When Labour came to power in 1997, 36 per cent of children were born outside marriage. The U.S. research, taken from census reports and health statistics by the Pew Research Centre, also outlines a trend of couples in western societies […]
The President’s Cancer Panel is the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream, so it is astonishing to learn that it is poised to join ranks with the organic food movement and declare: chemicals threaten our bodies. The cancer panel is releasing a landmark 200-page report on Thursday, warning that our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health. I’ve read an advance copy of the report, and it’s an extraordinary document. It calls on America to rethink the way we confront cancer, including much more rigorous regulation of chemicals. Traditionally, we reduce cancer risks through regular doctor visits, self-examinations and screenings such as mammograms. The President’s Cancer Panel suggests other eye-opening steps as well, such as giving preference to organic food, checking radon levels in the home and microwaving food in glass containers rather than plastic. In particular, the report warns about exposures to chemicals during pregnancy, when risk of damage seems to be greatest. Noting that 300 contaminants have been detected in umbilical cord blood of newborn babies, the study warns that: ‘to a disturbing extent, babies are born ‘pre-polluted.’ It’s striking that this report emerges not from the fringe […]
Washing your hands ‘wipes the slate clean,’ removing doubts about recent choices. That’s the key finding of a University of Michigan study published in the current (May 7) issue of Science. The study, conducted by U-M psychologists Spike W. S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz, expands on past research by showing that hand-washing does more than remove the guilt of past misdeeds. ‘It’s not just that washing your hands contributes to moral cleanliness as well as physical cleanliness, as seen in earlier research’ said Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology. ‘Our studies show that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviors and decisions that have no moral implications whatsoever.’ For the study, Lee and Schwarz, who is affiliated with the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the Ross School of Business in addition to the Department of Psychology, asked undergraduate students to browse through 30 CD covers as part of an alleged consumer survey. Participants picked 10 CDs they would like to own, ranking them by preference. Later, the experimenter offered them a choice between their 5th and 6th ranked CDs as a token of appreciation. Following that choice, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated […]
An Icelandic volcano which caused havoc to European aviation after erupting last month is to emit a large new ash cloud after surging back to life, meteorologists said Thursday. A plume of ash measuring up to seven kilometers (more than four miles) high had been detected at the Eyjafjoll volcano, said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office and Institute of Earth Science. ‘The eruption has changed back to an explosive eruption, lava has stopped flowing and most of the magma gets scattered due to explosions in the crater,’ said the statement in English. ‘The ash plume rises high above the crater (4-7 km) and considerable ash fall can be expected in wind direction. No signs of the eruption ending soon.’
Many of us are part caveman, according to an analysis of Neanderthal genes, which were sequenced for the first time in a recent study. The Neanderthal genome offers further evidence that this ancient hominid species mated and interbred with the ancestors of modern humans, scientists say. ‘The Neanderthals are not totally extinct,’ said study leader Svante Paabo of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. ‘In some of us they live on a little bit.’ In fact, between 1 percent and 4 percent of some modern humans’ DNA came from Neanderthals, who lived between about 130,000 and 30,000 years ago, the researchers report today. It took the scientists years to compile this first sequence of the Neanderthal genome, which is now about 60-percent complete. Researchers extracted DNA from the 40,000-year-old bones of three female Neanderthals found in a cave in Croatia. They had to come up with novel techniques to screen out contamination from bacteria and even present-day human DNA. The feat is a major step forward in piecing together human evolutionary history, experts say. ‘Dr. Paabo’s publication of the full Neandertal genome is a watershed event, a major historical achievement,’ said […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
