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Kids’ Sugar Cravings Might Be Biological
NPR: Ask a child if they like sweets and the answer is almost universally a resounding "Yes!" It's no surprise to most parents that kids love candy, cookies, sweetened drinks, and some kids have even been known to add sugar to a bowl of Frosted Flakes. But don't blame the kids, say researchers: It's biology. Scientific evidence shows that children not only have a stronger preference for sugar than adults – but that sweet-tooth is hardwired from Day One. "We know that the newborn can detect sweet and will actually prefer sweeter solutions to less sweet ones. The basic biology of the child is that they don't have to learn to like sweet or salt.
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Good Moms Seem to Help Poor Kids Become Healthy Adults
Yahoo Health: Poor children are more likely to become unhealthy adults -- vulnerable to infection and disease -- than kids from higher-income families, according to a new study. However, the study findings revealed, some disadvantaged children grow up into healthy adults. Their secret: a nurturing and attentive mother. Upward mobility also has been cited as a reason that children from low-income families become healthy adults, the study pointed out. Yet the researchers found that income in adulthood didn't offset childhood poverty.
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How brain buys time for tough choices
Zee News: Some people who receive deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease are impulsive, leading them to make quick and often, bad, decisions. Now, a new study has explained why and shown how under normal circumstances key parts of the brain collaborate to devote time to reflect on tough choices. Michael Frank, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences at Brown University, studied the impulsive behavior of Parkinson’s patients when he was at the University of Arizona several years ago. Read the full story: Zee News
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Los babuinos son capaces de establecer analogías
RTVE: Un equipo de expertos afirma haber hallado que los monos babuinos son capaces de establecer analogías a pesar de no disponer de un lenguaje, de forma que pueden relacionar dos contextos diferentes pero simbólicamente parecidos, según ha informado el Centro Nacional de Investigación Científica francés (CNRS). Esta nueva teoría desmiente la hipótesis según la cual "solo los seres humanos o los grandes primates -a los que se haya enseñado previamente un lenguaje- son capaces de razonar de ese modo".
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Study calls parental care key factor in child’s health
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A new study has found that children raised in poverty were less likely to develop certain chronic diseases in adulthood if they had loving, attentive mothers from a young age. Disadvantaged children grow up with stresses that can hurt their physical development and make them vulnerable to infection and disease for the rest of their lives. In adulthood, this often leads to metabolic syndrome -- high blood pressure, impaired regulation of blood sugar and fats, fat around the waist -- that are precursors to diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions.
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Mehrsprachigkeit verschafft geistigen Vorsprung
Die Welt: Johan Vandewalle sammelt Sprachen. Er weiß nicht genau, wie viele er nun schon gelernt hat. Im Jahr 1987 gewann er einen Wettbewerb, der ihn zum polyglottesten Menschen Flanders kürte. Schon damals sprach er 31 Sprachen, darunter so exotische wie Aserbaidschanisch, Tadschikisch und Swahili. Außerdem noch neun tote Sprachen. Seine Begeisterung für Vokabeln und Grammatik begann bereits im Kindesalter, als Vandewalle in die Schule kam. Dort lernte der im Jahr 1960 in Brügge geborene Belgier neben seiner Muttersprache Flämisch bald Französisch. Im Gymnasium kamen Deutsch und Englisch, später Griechisch und Latein hinzu. Read the whole story: Die Welt
