What happens in a small, semi-rural community in a southern state when an "out" transgender student decides to speak up for his civil rights? Here in Gloucester County, Virginia, where I live — not far from the Historic Triangle of...
Lack of sleep and sleep-related breathing problems appear to boost children's risk of obesity, a new study finds. What isn't clear from the study, however, is whether the sleep issues actually cause obesity, or if something else might explain...
This summary of a Brookings Institute study on marital and family trends from 1970 to 2010 implies U.S. kids are increasingly at risk of ineffective parenting: http://sfhelp.org/parent/news/trends.htm
With office Christmas party season in full swing a new Deakin University study provides a timely reminder of the role alcohol plays in unwanted sexual advances. According to the research simply sitting next to a beer is enough for a woman to be...
More young adults are using certain types of preventive care since the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called "Obamacare," went into effect in the United States, according to a new study. Significant increases were seen in the numbers of 19- to...
The fruits and vegetables provided at school deliver an important dietary boost to low income adolescents, according to Meghan Longacre, PhD and Madeline Dalton, PhD of Dartmouth Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center and The Hood Center for Children...
More than 90 percent of American high school students are chronically sleep-deprived, putting their health and academic performance in jeopardy, a new report finds. The study, based on U.S. national data, finds that most teens don't get the minimum 9...
There is well-deserved outrage over the decisions by two grand juries in St. Louis and New York City to not indict police officers Darren Wilson and Dan Pantaleo for the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The good news is that many of the...
Before this month, Naz Seenauth might have faced a serious problem the next time he applied for a job. His most important official personal document says that he's the wrong person. As Reuters reported in in November, while his...
Nearly half of all children in the United States experience an adverse event during childhood that could lead to long-term health or educational consequences, according to new research. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of...
When a child sees a parent die, experiences severe poverty, or witnesses neighborhood violence, it can leave a permanent mark on her brain. This type of unmitigated, long-term "toxic stress" can affect a person's cardiovascular health, immune...
Homicide and acts of personal violence kill more people than wars and are the third-leading cause of death among men aged 15 to 44, the United Nations said Wednesday in a new report. Around the world, there were about 475,000 homicide deaths in 2012...
To hear Mikia Hutchings speak, one must lean in close, as her voice barely rises above a whisper. In report cards, her teachers describe her as “very focused,” someone who follows the rules and stays on task. So it was a surprise...
In 2008, five years into a long and expensive conflict, economists Joseph Stiglitz and Laura Bilmes surprised even the Iraq War’s critics with their estimation of its true cost. The calculations in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War...
“We are good,” Donald Pfaff declares early on in The Altruistic Brain. By this he means that all humans are innately moral, not in a philosophical/religious sense, but as a matter of objective science. “[T]he human brain is wired for goodwill,” he argues, “which propels us toward empathic displays of altruism.” The human brain is altruistic, and altruism is good; therefore humans are good. It’s a neat syllogism—but, unfortunately,...