Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 2, 2014

'Love Hormone' Oxytocin May Intensify Orgasms

A dose of the love hormone oxytocin may make people's orgasms more intense, a new study from Germany suggests. In the study, 29 healthy couples who'd been together for at least a year took either an oxytocinnasal spray or a placebo spray before having sex in their home. After intercourse,...

Apr 8, 2014

Younger Teens Still Make Up 1 in 4 Teen Mothers

The number of 15- to 17-year-olds who give birth has declined, but these younger teens still account for about one-quarter of teen births — nearly 1,700 births weekly, or 86,500 yearly, according to a new government report. The rate of births among teens ages 15 to 17 dropped to 14.1...

Apr 30, 2014

The Trick to Getting Your Kids to Help Around the House

If you want your child to help pick up her toys, reinforcing her desire to be a good person may be more effective than giving her a direct order, a new study suggests. In the study, researchers discovered that children were more apt to complete tasks if they were asked...

May 10, 2014

Working Moms Up 800 Percent … Since 1860

The number of stay-at-home mothers recently rose in the United States after decades of more and more moms working outside the home. But a new analysis of deeper history highlights how much motherhood has changed. The proportion of working moms in the United States has gone up a whopping 800...

Jun 4, 2014

Children of Divorce May Be More Likely to Be Overweight

Children whose parents are divorced tend to be heavier than kids whose parents stay married, a new study suggests. Researchers in Norway found that kids from divorced homes in that country were 54 percent more likely to be overweight or obese, and 89 percent were more likely to have abdominal...

Jun 6, 2014

Top Apps for Lending a Hand to New Parents

When a baby comes into the picture, new parents have their hands full — so much so that constantly relying on a smartphone for anything may seem almost laughable. But between the feedings, naps and diaper changes, parents are strategically turning to apps that actually do lend a hand. A...

Jun 11, 2014

Married Men More Likely to Get Health Screenings

Married men are more likely to visit the doctor and get recommended health screenings than unmarried men who live with their significant others, according to a new report. In 2011 and 2012, 76 percent of married men ages 18 to 64 said they had a health care visit in the...

Jun 24, 2014

Parents Should Read to Kids Starting in Infancy, Docs Say

Parents should read to their children often, and start well before the kids enter school, according to a new statement from the nation's largest group of pediatricians. The statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians advise parents to read regularly to their children, beginning in infancy and...

Jul 23, 2014

One Parent May Have Bigger Role in a Girl's Puberty Age

The age at which girls reach puberty is influenced by a set of genes that were previously only known to be involved in the development of a fetus before birth, according to a new study. The timing of puberty varies widely among people. Scientists are interested in understanding the factors...

Aug 13, 2014

Births to Unmarried Couples Drop

The number of children born outside of marriage in the United States has declined in recent years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013, there were about 1.6 million births to unmarried U.S. women, which was the lowest number since 2005, and...

Sep 4, 2014

Icky Solution to Diaper Waste: Grow Mushrooms on Them

Disposable diapers are made of some of the most indestructible materials on Earth, but a group of researchers has found a way to degrade the soiled garments: by growing mushrooms on them. The scientists grew the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on a substance made from used diapers, and were able...

Oct 1, 2014

Weird Device Helps Long-Distance Lovers 'Teleport' Smooches

Long-distance lovebirds may soon be able to teleport kisses to one another, thanks to a high-tech but somewhat unusual device. The smooching machine — called the Kissenger, which is short for Kiss-Messenger — allows two people to transmit kisses to each other when they are physically apart. It is mostly...

Dec 3, 2014

US Birth Rate Hits All-Time Low

The U.S. birth rate reached an all-time low in 2013, as the number of babies born in the country declined for the sixth straight year since the peak in 2007, a new report finds. The country's birth rate dipped to 62.5 births per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 44,...

Dec 18, 2014

Parents: How to Help a Shy Kid

It's fine to be shy, as long as Mom and Dad are looking out for you, new research suggests. Shy babies and toddlers are at greater risk of developing anxiety later in life, compared with outgoing kids. A new study, however, finds that good parenting can offset that risk for...

Jan 7, 2015

Most Parents Use Car Seats Unsafely

Almost three-quarters of parents fail to follow the safety advice to use rear-facing car seats for their toddlers until age 2, a new study finds. Instead, most parents turn their child's car seat around, to a front-facing position, at an earlier age than recommended, and a quarter of parents even...