Social Sciences

Pregnant women living under stressful conditions and those who use tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs have compromised immune system responses that threaten the health of both mother and baby, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University Medical Center.

The results suggest that elevated levels of inflammatory biomarkers called cytokines – small protein molecules that transmit signals within the immune system – are an early risk factor for prem

UMHS study suggests some babies more in tune to mom’s behavior at meals

Mealtime is a nightmare, the baby won’t eat what’s on his highchair, and instead he seems to grab for whatever mom and dad have on their plates. For many parents it’s a familiar and frustrating story.

But while parents may describe their baby as a difficult eater or an overeater, it could be just a sign that the child is more tuned in to the eating habits of those around him.

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Some parents-to-be talk to their unborn child, read stories out loud and play classical music to bond and give the baby a head start on life. This uniquely American pregnancy practice, “belly talk,” is the subject of study by a University of Michigan anthropologist.

“It’s one of the ways expectant parents here start to think of their unborn children as persons who are part of their family,” said Sallie Han, a researcher with the Alfred P. Sloan Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Li

Baggage screeners have just seconds amid loud airport noises and the pressure of rushed airline travelers to scan X-rays of carry-on items for weapons. How good they are at finding one may depend on the specificity of their training, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The findings, published in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science, suggest that initial training of federal airport screeners needs to last long enough for them to be exposed to a var

UK advice provision is fragmented, underfunded and patchy, says research

Lone parents are not getting the advice they need because advice provision is fragmented, underfunded and patchy, according to research by Cardiff University. The research, published by One Parent Families, was funded by The Nuffield Foundation.

Looking at 12 types of legal and social welfare problems faced by single parents – including debt, contact, benefits and child maintenance – depending on the pro

Women are better than men at remembering the appearance of others, a new study shows.

The gender difference in appearance memory was not great, but it shows another area where women are superior to men in interpersonal sensitivity, said Terrence Horgan, lead author of the study and research fellow in psychology at Ohio State University.

“Women have an advantage when it comes to remembering things like the physical features, clothing and postures of other people,” Horgan said.