science wire

A study examining children's schooling in Andhra Pradesh, India, has revealed a dramatic rise in the number of parents opting for fee-paying private schools over state-funded government schools.

An Australian first and world leading study, into the overall health and wellbeing of children of same-sex attracted parents is being led by the University of Melbourne. The study is the biggest of its kind to investigate the complete physical, mental and social wellbeing of children with same-sex attracted parents, and in particular the role that stigma and discrimination play in their health and wellbeing.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-More than 60 percent of young adults between the ages of 19 and 22 receive financial help from mom and dad, according to a new University of Michigan study. The average amount they receive-including help with college tuition, rent and transportation-is roughly $7,500 a year. The study is the first to use nationally representative data to calculate parental assistance to young adults and to analyze how help varies by family and individual characteristics.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. During high school the parents of teenagers' friends can have as much effect on the teens' substance use as their own parents, according to prevention researchers. "Among friendship groups with 'good parents' there's a synergistic effect - if your parents are consistent and aware of your whereabouts, and your friends' parents are also consistent and aware of their (children's) whereabouts, then you are less likely to use substances," said Michael J. Cleveland, research assistant professor at the Prevention Research Center and the Methodology Center, Penn State.

A new study into the grim and frequently heart-breaking history of childhood sickness and death has opened a window on to a surprisingly tender world of close families and devoted parenting in early modern England.

Young adults who receive parental support are more likely to be studying and have access to better job opportunities than young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to a recent study by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. The research found that while young people from disadvantaged backgrounds receive less financial support from their parentsare more likely to be residentially and financially independent of their parents at an earlier age than their more advantaged peers.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Depressed mothers are more likely to needlessly wake up their infants at night than mothers who are not depressed, according to Penn State researchers.

The time diaries of working age men and women in the UK reveal that women in the 2000s who went to college or university spent more time doing paid work and did less housework compared with similarly educated women in the 1970s. The study also shows that there has been a sharp drop in the amount of paid work being done by men who did not go on to take further qualifications at a college or university.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/16/2012) —As of 2012, 13 Minnesota school districts have implemented a change to a four-day week.

A new exhibition opening this week at Winterbourne House and Garden's Coach House Gallery will offer a window into the lives of the well-known Nettlefold family who lived in the house in the early part of the twentieth century.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham are championing the call for increased investment into autism research on World Autism Day (Monday 2 April).

Parents of children born with a cleft lip and/or palate are being invited to enrol in the world's largest ever cleft research programme, which was launched in London today (Tuesday 27 March).

Some of our most brilliant inventions came about by mistake. On Saturday the Institute for Manufacturing will open its doors to children aged five upwards - and show them just how exciting engineering can be.

How do children come to realize that they themselves might be targets of prejudice? It may depend on their age. New research conducted at the University of Toronto shows that a six-year-old may be influenced most by direct instruction about prejudice, but once that child gets closer to 10, she begins to rely more on her own experiences.

Emily Adamczyk won UC San Diego's first national title of the 2012 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday, winning the 200 breaststroke in school-record time on the final day of the meet at the ISD Natatorium.

Legal rights and protections play second fiddle to the power of love for younger gay and lesbian couples who have formed civil partnerships, according to a three-year study by researchers at The University of Manchester.

New research at the University of Warwick into 50 years of motherhood manuals has revealed how despite their differences they have always issued advice as orders and set unattainably high standards for new mums and babies.

The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the innovative 330,000-sqaure-foot public-private facility that opened just more than a year ago on the UW-Madison campus, has been named the 2012 Laboratory of the Year.

By Melissa Beattie-Moss Research/Penn State The economy may be struggling, but these days Cupid has found some profitable new niches.

" A brief guide to designing effective figures for the scientific paper ” by Marco Rolandi, Karen Cheng and former UW faculty member Sarah Perez-Kriz Some of the figures scientists create are stunning.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The National Research Council's newly released Framework for K-12 Science Education captures contemporary thinking about the role of core ideas, cross-cutting themes, and scientific practices in science learning.

For some immigrant parents, especially South Asians, questions about a baby's birthweight may be stressful, because many of their newborns are incorrectly diagnosed as being significantly underweight. Low birthweight generally means a baby could be at higher risk of developmental issues. Researchers at the University of Toronto and St. Michael's Hospital say many of these infants are in fact the correct birthweight for their ethnic group and should not be compared to those of babies of Canadian-born mothers.

Children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills, a study by University of Chicago researchers has found. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of spatial skill after controlling for differences in parents' income, education and the overall amount of parent language input.

Women with advanced degrees in math-intensive academic fields drop out of fast-track research careers primarily because they want children - not because their performance is devalued or they are shortchanged during ing and hiring, report two Cornell professors.

A collaborative study involving undergraduate students and researchers has revealed that science in our favourite TV shows often slips under the radar.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne are calling on families from the Melbourne metropolitan area to help them find long term ways to help teenagers better cope with physical and mental stresses.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/08/2012) —University of Minnesota researchers are recruiting more than 300 Minnesota National Guard and Reserve families to participate in an ongoing study tha

Hannah Newton, an historian of science with an interest in how previous generations coped with childhood illness, digs up some 17th century tips for making medicine taste better and finds evidence for common sense and compassion among the doctors of the day.

Plans for new childcare centre to be built on campus The University is close to concluding an agreement with the Co-operative Childcare, part of Midcounties Co-operative, to secure the future of childcare on campus.

Blurting out answers in class can be good for learning Pupils who blurt out answers in class often learn more than their quieter classmates, according to new research. Test results from hundreds of schools across England show a surprising advantage for pupils with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); pupils who shout out answers attain better results than pupils who have similar symptoms but remain quiet and interrupt less.

A new study co-authored by University of Pennsylvania sociologist Hyunjoon Park chalks up East Asian American students' high SAT scores in part to their high level of participation in "shadow education" activities outside formal schools.