Quotes from Barack Obama, Bono, Tony Campolo, Sarah Preston, Bruce Dickson

The children of a British farmer and his wife grew up “looking at straw out of the windows of the house,” and one son was even kept from school on the day his classmates were to paint pictures of their houses. Why? Because they lived in a mock Tudor castle hidden behind a giant screen of hay bales and didn’t want anyone else to know.

Two Georgia schools have begun a 15-week pilot program that pays public school students struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend study hall four hours per week. The privately funded “Learn & Earn” initiative, an idea from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is touted as the first of its kind in the state and one of a few similar programs nationwide.

After finding alcohol in her son’s car, Jane Hambleton decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old’s misdeed with everyone by placing an ad in a newspaper. The ad reads: “OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

Researchers found that adults who drank heavily in their teenage years and young adulthood were more likely to have metabolic syndrome—a grouping of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high triglycerides, a type of blood fat.

Five key factors can help predict whether at-risk youth will develop schizophrenia, researchers have found: A genetic risk for schizophrenia combined with recent decline in function; higher levels of unusual thought content; more suspicion/paranoia; more social impairment; and past or current substance abuse.

Where a teenage girl sees herself on her school’s social ladder may sway her future weight, a study of more than 4,000 girls finds. Those who believed they were unpopular gained more weight over a two-year period than girls who viewed themselves as more popular. Researchers said the study showed how a girl’s view of her social status has broader health consequences. 

New research suggests that previous theories about why some poor children are obese (e.g., eating junk food instead of nutritious food or not eating when cash is short, prompting a yo-yo metabolic cycle) aren’t necessarily sound. 

The video warning on the recently released DVD of the iconic TV show’s first few seasons reads: “These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grownups and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” Say what? 

Abortion rates have hit a 34-year low, but experts disagree on the reasons why. The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research organization, reported that in 2005 the abortion rate dipped to 19.4 per 1,000 women, its lowest level since 1974. And the rate of U.S. abortions has been dropping steadily since 1981. But is it because of increased access to birth control?