Parenting, Brain | featured news

A quick-thinking mother saved her son’s life when she Googled his ailments, the Shropshire Star reported. Kian Jones, 12, of Shrewsbury, U.K., had persistent headaches, poor vision and vomiting, which his mother, Sabina, typed into Google after the child was initially misdiagnosed.

Only recently have researchers begun to understand how the teen brain is wired and that some of what appear to be teens' senseless choices may result from biological tendencies that also prime their brains to learn and be flexible.

Researchers say the small but significant increases in the risk of leukemia and brain cancer do not mean that CT scans should be avoided entirely, but that the test should be performed only when necessary.

It was a clue — the kind of clue medical researchers notice. Intent on finding answers about autism, now estimated to affect 1 of every 88 children, they followed it, poking and prodding and scanning, prying open its secrets.

Brain games can help with abstract reasoning months after the training, but they work only for those who really need and enjoy the exercises, a study says. Training a child to hold a whole cluster of items in his or her memory for even a short time may feel like trying to hold a wave on the sand.