Watercooler Stories

MISSPELLING A BARRIER TO NET INFO

The Internet can provide instant information for teens on health, but only it they can spell.

A University of Michigan study finds misspelled words, ambiguous search terms and an imprecise approach to scanning a Web site often prevented teens from finding the information they sought.

The study, published in the online Journal of Medical Internet Research, suggests the importance of teaching teens better search strategies, as well as encouraging Web site designers to target teens.

"Long paragraphs, too many links and difficult vocabulary all make it more likely that teens won't find the information they need, even if it's within the site," says study author Derek Hansen.

RACISM CAN RAISE BLOOD PRESSURE

Experiencing racism in everyday life contributes to high blood pressure in blacks, according to research that measured blood pressure night and day.

Duke University Medical Center researchers say in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine that genetic factors of hypertension apparently are less at fault than environmental, psychological and social causes, such as diet, income, education or stresses like racism.

"Seventeen percent of participants reported experiencing racism a couple of times a year, 33 percent several times a month, 17 percent several times a week and 26 percent several times a day," says Patrick Steffen, lead author of the study.

PARENTS LEAVE CHILDREN HOME ALONE

A New York woman is facing charges of reckless endangerment for leaving her children, ages 9 and 1, home alone. She, however, is not alone.

A recent study by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Child Trends finds parents themselves report 3 million children ages 5 to 13 are left home unsupervised.

"Although news stories repeatedly say there is 'no firm rule' concerning when a child can be left alone, actually there is one," Richard Wexler, director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, tells the New York Times.

"It's the rule of fate. If something goes wrong, then you are a bad parent and you will be charged. If nothing goes wrong, you won't."

KENNEDY PHOTOS STILL HAVE IMPACT

Forty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a Wake Forest University art professor says the Kennedy images still activate latent memories.

David Lubin, author of "Shooting Kennedy: JFK and the Culture of Images," places the best-known photographs and film images of the president and his family in historical and cultural context and uses them to examine postwar America.

Lubin sees in the Zapruder 26-second film the sudden transition from the romantic, idyllic era that preceded the assassination to the dark period of American history that followed.

"It became our cultural reference -- the moment when the lights went out in American history," Lubin says.