childhood
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WW, formerly Weight Watchers, launches a weight loss app for kids
Last February, Weight Watchers drew criticism when it announced a free weight-loss program for teens ages 13 to 17. Skeptics feared the program would encourage obsessive eating habits in adolescents, but Weight Watchers -- since rebranded WW -- isn't backing down. Instead, it launched a free weight loss app for adolescents, Kurbo by WW.
'Life is Strange 2' prelude proves superpowers aren't just for girls
In The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, the latest installment in the Life is Strange series, developer Dontnod once again taps into a deep and pervasive human emotion: The desire to have superpowers. However, where the first season approaches this feeling from the perspective of a confused teenage girl with the fate of an entire town in her hands, Captain Spirit puts players in the basketball-spotted socks of a 9-year-old boy playing pretend. Though the protagonist, Chris, is younger than the star of the original series, his problems are just as mature: His mother recently died in a car wreck, and in the aftermath, his dad is having a rough time creating a stable home life. Meanwhile, Chris attempts to escape his new reality by becoming the superpowered Captain Spirit -- in his imagination and possibly in the real world, too.
Brain region that recognizes faces keeps growing in adulthood
Neurologists thought that your brain was basically set once you hit early childhood, but researchers from Stanford have discovered one part that keeps growing. Using new MRI imaging techniques, they found that the "fusiform gyrus," which is mostly responsible for recognizing human faces, keeps expanding well after other regions have stopped. The research could lead to more sophisticated cellular analysis of the brain and help patients with a disorder called "facial blindness."
Alabama news site visits Tim Cook's Deep South roots
AL.com today published an interesting article about the life of Tim Cook growing up in Robertsdale, Ala., complete with charming anecdotes and the requisite assortment of embarrassing childhood photos. The article speaks glowingly of Cook, explaining that the Apple CEO is the "pride and joy" of Robertsdale. Growing up as the middle child in a family of three boys, Cook's studious nature was reportedly quite apparent early on. But more than just a bookworm, Cook was reportedly an equally outgoing and likeable fellow. Teachers describe a friendly, diligent, long-limbed teenager who played trombone in the band and served on the yearbook staff. "You didn't go around calling him a nerd," said Barbara Davis, who taught Cook math. "He was just the kind of person you liked to be around." She added, "He was a reliable kid. He was always meticulous with his work, so I knew it would be done right." Illustrating Cook's penchant for pushing himself, the article recounts how Cook and class valedictorian Teresa Proschaska Huntsman were worried that they weren't "learning enough" in their chemistry class. Fearful that they would be ill-equipped to handle a college-level chemistry course without an adequate base of knowledge, the two took it upon themselves to see if they might be "placed in a tougher class." The Al.com article isn't exactly a tell-all, but it certainly provides a little bit of insight into Tim Cook's upbringing and persona. It's well worth a read. Some other Tim Cook high school trivia you might not be aware of -- Cook was voted "Most Studious" as both a freshman and a sophomore. For a really in-depth profile of Cook, make sure to check out Adam Lashinsky's piece from Fortune a few years back.
Study: TV and games linked to attention problems in school
[Image credit: dospaz] A new study conducted by researchers at Iowa State University recently found that viewing television and playing video games were both associated with greater attention problems among young children. The study, which appeared in Pedatrics recently, followed the television and video game usage habits of 1300 "middle childhood" subjects, connected those up with "teacher-reported attention problems," and found that increased exposure to both television and video games was associated with attention issues. The study doesn't mention that there's a casual relationship here, only that the two were "associated." A separate part of the study involved 210 "late adolescent/early adult participants" who provided self reports on both issues, and also found that some connection existed between the two. This study follows up on previous group research from the same university, but the researchers admit that much more research is needed before clear conclusions can be drawn. Thanks, Will!
The Daily Grind: Childhood memory MMOs
The sheer amount of "oh how COOL" and squeeing when we first heard about the LEGO MMO was pretty heavy around the virtual Massively offices. While it wasn't entirely universal, many of us fondly remember playing with Legos for hours in our youth. (Hell, some of us haven't stopped playing with them.) Then we heard that the people behind Pokemon won't consider doing an MMO, which made some of us sad - that was from our youth too. Since then we've dreamed up all manner of childhood MMOs behind the scenes; from ones based on Voltron and Gundam, to trying to recreate worlds from young-adult reading like Harry Potter. This morning we thought we'd toss this question out to you - what childhood memory would you like to see developed into an MMO? From young to old, there must have been something you thought was a fantastic toy to play with, or world to imagine - can you see it developed into an MMO? What childhood memory MMO would you make if you could?
UK McDonald's chief blames game industry for obesity
We're used to scientists, the government and even beverage companies taking the game industry to task for contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic. But now there's a new, even more unlikely source using gaming as an obesity scapegoat -- McDonald's.Talking to the London Times, McDonald's UK chief executive Steve Easterbrook said games are part of a "lifestyle element" that has led to a rise in childhood obesity. "There's fewer green spaces and kids are sat home playing computer games on the TV when in the past they'd have been burning off energy outside," he said.To be fair, Easterbrook didn't lay the blame completely at gaming's feet. "The issue of obesity is complex," he said, while also acknowledging that the government, the food industry, and good old personal responsibility have their part to play in solving the problem. Still, any organization that serves a "deluxe breakfast" with 59 grams of fat should be very careful when shifting the blame.
The 'death of childhood'? Blame games, say UK childcare experts
An open letter in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper condemns "junk culture" -- junk food, junk entertainment and a fast-moving culture -- for its effect on children, with sombre phrases like "ruining our children" and "the death of childhood" weighing down its paragraphs. From the letter:[Children] still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.A scathing commentary on the evils of modern life -- and what's more, plenty of readers agree that the hands-off parenting enabled by video games is a big problem for today's youth. Perhaps the high profile given to this complaint (a national broadsheet) will open up some serious debate on the matter, rather than give a platform for rabid anti-gaming propaganda to spread to the UK as well.
