The animated mock documentary Surf's Up is a delightfully rendered summer diversion in which a tiny Rockhopper penguin named Cody Maverick aspires to be a surfing champion. Young Cody (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) is discovered in his native Shiverpool by...
Not only does it soothe the savage beast, but music also makes unruly children calmer while at the same time honing their facilities for cognitive skills and physical coordination, according to a leading expert. A mother's soft lullaby, granddad's wh...
Dear Annie: My best friend, Denise, recently moved back to our hometown after two years away. We talk every day, and there is hardly anything we keep from each other. The problem is, Denise is perpetually unhappy. Since she moved back, her negativity...
Dear Annie: I have known Celia for five years and love her like a sister. A few months ago, I found out that Celia's husband is having an affair with a former employee. I know he meets this woman at various out-of-the-way places and that he leaves wo...
News in the age of information We are often told that the age of the information economy has arrived. The idea is that intellectual work is becoming a more important source of wealth than manufacturing. There are already too many factories for the nu...
The Internet has become an indispensable part of life for many children and young people nowadays. Yet risks abound. Children must be protected from dangerous content, whether it's pornography or depictions of violence, says Axel Kossel of c't magazi...
Dear Annie: I live next door to people who leave their windows open and have the television blaring most of the night, while their children play loud video games. They also run some sort of compressor all day long that's right next to our patio. This...
Dear Annie: I am a young married woman. My husband, let's call him Pete, is very possessive and jealous. He also has an anger problem. Anytime I go to the store, he wants to know exactly what store I am going to, who I'm going with, when I am going t...
Dear Annie: I recently came across an e-mail from my 15-year-old daughter to her 22-year-old cousin that was rather revealing. (OK, I was snooping.) My daughter, Carlie, was attending a sleepover at a senior girl's house, and it turns out there was a...
About six or seven million years ago chimpanzees and humans evolved from a common primate ancestor. Chimps went on to become the relatively small-brained, forest dwelling creatures we know and love. Humans went on to evolve large brains, spread throu...
Fifteen hundred years ago in China, silk production was a state secret. The silk trade was so valuable that anyone who tried to take silkworm eggs or mulberry seeds out of China was put to death. Then in 552 AD, two monks smuggled silkworm eggs to Co...
The Asian Development Bank says Asia and the Pacific are behind in meeting certain parts the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. A new report by the ADB and the U.N. Development Program says progress is slow in reducing child mortality, pro...
Yael: Don, are you eating my tulips? Don: Just having myself a little snack. Y: Of MY tulips? I brought those in here to brighten the place up, not for you to eat! And who eats flowers anyway? D: Have you seen that movie, Monsoon Wedding? There's a c...
More and more women have began smoking in the last few decades. One of the reasons is savvy marketing as Don explains to Yael in this Moment of Science. D: Yael, what's that in your hand? Y: Come on, Don. Haven't you seen a cigarette before? Every da...
Think back to your college days, the good old days when life was easy. Stay up all night partying or even studying? No problem. Eat pizza every night and plow through entire bags of potato chips at one sitting. Hey, no sweat. You were a lean, mean, a...
