The arduous art of the chocolate taster

First study the colour, then the nose, the structure and taste: as for any good wine, tasting chocolate is both a treat and a serious art, requiring regular practice to fine-tune the senses.And who better to offer a lesson in chocolate tasting than Pierre Herme, the French master pastry chef?"You start by looking at the texture," he explained at a recent tasting organised in Paris by the "Chocolate...

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One Big Reason Not to Rush into Early Retirement

You might want to think twice about retiring early.  That’s because, new research has shown a link between early retirement and premature death. Research by Andreas Kuhn, Jean-Philippe Wuellrich and Josef Zweimüller found that men, in particular, had an increased risk of death before age 67 when they retired early. To prove this, the researchers looked at a group of blue-collar workers from Austria,...

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Spring/Summer hair trends: five new looks to try

Spring/Summer hair doesn't just have to mean tousled waves or blonde highlights, so take inspiration from the Spring/Summer 2012 catwalk shows and experiment with candy color or victory rolls.Slicked backGet the hair gel at the ready because slicked-back styles were all over the Spring/Summer 2012 runways, with everyone from Victoria Beckham to Mugler embracing the mullet-influenced style. Labels...

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US late-night host Conan O'Brien shares his workout playlist

This week, famed American late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien shared his favorite music for staying motivated in the gym.While not known for his rock-hard gym body, O'Brien is a fitness fan and music lover, and he released his top 16 playlist of gym-friendly tunes as part of his weekly series for streaming service Rdio's Guest DJ.Here is Conan's playlist or in certain countries, stream it here...

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The Challenges of Launching an Encore Career

Many people dream about launching a second career in a field they have always wanted to try. But the transition into an encore career can be a long and costly process.Most people earn a significantly lower amount of money (43 percent) or no money at all (24 percent) during the transition from one job to the next, according to a recent MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures survey conducted by Penn...

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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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