How Aggressive Hyena Moms Give Their Kids a Boost

Early one morning I caught sight of Morpheus, silhouetted against a pink African dawn. Her long, sloping neck was stretched out as she loped away from me, disappearing over a hill. I followed her to a nearby plain and was met with the unmistakable sound of a group of hyenas squabbling over a carcass. Morpheus entered the fray, first lunging at a smaller male on her right. A moment later, she looked...

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After parent's cancer death, one in five kids self-injure

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in five teens who lost one of their parents to cancer cut or burn themselves, compared to one in ten teens with two living parents, according to a new Swedish study."We were very surprised to find that so many did it," said lead researcher Tove Grenklo, a behavioral scientist at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.Cutting and burning is thought to be how some troubled...

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Disability expected to rise as more premature babies survive

LONDON (Reuters) - Little progress has been made in improving the long-term health of extremely premature babies, and with pre-term births on the rise across Europe, rates of serious disability are likely to increase, doctors said on Wednesday.A decade of advances in medicine mean more babies born at between 22 and 26 weeks gestation manage to survive, but rates of severe health complications remain...

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Iron may prevent behavioral issues in small babies

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Iron supplements may help boost brain development and ward off behavioral problems in babies who are born a bit on the small side, a new study from Sweden suggests.Low birth-weight babies are more likely to end up iron deficient, researchers said. They need more of the nutrient for catch-up growth and haven't stored as much as other babies if they're also born premature.For...

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C-Sections Save Kids and Moms in Tanzania

It never ceases to amaze me how much the world says it wants to save children's lives and how rarely it tries to do the one thing that has been proven to protect more youngsters than anything else--keeping their mothers alive. (Maybe if it was called "orphan prevention?") That is why I was so pleased to hear that Tanzania's efforts to expand skilled medical care to all women during labor and delivery...

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Software guru McAfee says to seek asylum in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - U.S. anti-virus software guru John McAfee, who is on the run from police in Belize seeking to question him in a murder probe, has crossed into Guatemala and said on Tuesday he will seek political asylum there.McAfee has been in hiding for three weeks since police in Belize said they wanted to question him as "a person of interest" about the murder of fellow American Gregory...

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Pope gets more than half million Twitter followers

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Even though he hasn't sent a single tweet yet, Pope Benedict  had more than half a million Twitter followers in eight languages on Tuesday, the day after the Vatican unveiled his handle: @Pontifex.They included people ranging from the simple Roman Catholic faithful to a Jewish head of state."Your holiness, welcome to Twitter. Our relations with the Vatican are at their...

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Royal Baby: Hysteria, humor and "Kate Expectations"

LONDON (Reuters) - At least Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine have fewer things to worry about now they have announced they are expecting their first child.A day after breaking the news, the couple popularly known as "Wills and Kate" received advice from the world's media and public on what to call the offspring, what he/she/they will look like, what to wear during pregnancy and even...

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Student group takes Facebook privacy gripes to court

VIENNA/DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Austrian student group plans to go to court in a bid to make Facebook Inc, the world's biggest social network, do more to protect the privacy of its hundreds of millions of members.Campaign group europe-v-facebook, which has been lobbying for reforms at the U.S. company for more than a year, said it would appeal against decisions by the data protection regulator in Ireland,...

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Student group takes Facebook privacy gripes to court

VIENNA/DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Austrian student group plans to go to court in a bid to make Facebook Inc, the world's biggest social network, do more to protect the privacy of its hundreds of millions of members.Campaign group europe-v-facebook, which has been lobbying for reforms at the U.S. company for more than a year, said it would appeal against decisions by the data protection regulator in Ireland,...

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