Light Triggers a New Code for Brain Cells
...Brain cells can adopt a new chemical code in response to cues from the outside world, scientists working with tadpoles at the University of California, San Diego report in the journal Nature this week...


The United States is failing hundreds of thousands of its youngest citizens on the day they are born, according to the March of Dimes.

...In the first of what will be an annual Premature Birth Report Card, the nation received a "D" and not a single state earned an "A," when the March of Dimes compared actual preterm birth rates to the national Healthy People 2010 objective...


http://blackwellpublishing.com/press/pressitem.asp?ref=1958
...Researchers investigated whether middle school students solved geometry problems more successfully than their peers when they were provided with clues consistent with their own style of thinking. The cognitive styles that were identified and the related clues were verbal, spatial, and shape-based. They found that regardless of the type of clue provided, spatial and verbal thinking styles were useful for solving the geometry problems, while shape-based thinking was much less effective...

Quality, quantity lacking in children's educational TV, study says
...Commercial broadcasters are doing the “bare minimum and not much more” for children’s educational programming, according to University of Illinois communication professor Barbara Wilson, one of two lead researchers on a study released today (Nov. 12) by the organization Children Now...

Talks Samantha Power: Shaking hands with the devil
....Samantha Power tells a story of a complicated hero, Sergio Vieira de Mello. This UN diplomat walked a thin moral line, negotiating with the world's worst dictators to help their people survive crisis. It's a compelling story told with a fiery passion....