Archive for April 22nd, 2008
Does breakfast determine the sex of your baby?(1)
It may sound odd, but scientists think so. Women who opt for low calorie diet and skip breakfasts during conception and pregnancy are more likely to have baby girls. Women who eat high energy meals and have regular breakfasts are more likely to have boys.
No, this does not mean women determine the sex of the baby. It is still the man’s job. So what’s going on? Scientists are not really sure. They think the high level of glucose in mother’s blood helps the development of male embryos while it works against females. As a result, woman with low glucose level tend to have baby girls more often. When a woman skips breakfast, her body reads it a sign of food shortage, and as a natural response the body lowers glucose level. Even a subtle change in glucose level is enough to change the viability of the embryos. The findings may explain why in the developed countries there is a decline in birth rate of boys in the recent years. Young women in wealthy countries tend to prefer low calorie diet. That is ironic, since they adopt low calorie diet as a response to the abundance of food.
This means malnourished woman would give birth to more baby girls. Not sure how many women would use the breakfast as a tool to control the sex of their baby.
Would you use your dead friend to cash a check for $355?(1)
You may not, but a pair of NY men did exactly that. They put their dead friend on an office chair and wheeled him to a store to cash a $355 dollar social security check.
The sixty-six year old man was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and died. But his two younger friends used an office chair with wheels to bring him to a check cashing place in downtown Manhattan. They left him outside and went to cash one of his social security checks worth $355 on which they forged his signature. The person at the counter asked to see the old man before cashing the check. But when the two went out there was a crowd around the dead body. A police officer who was having lunch nearby found out the old man was dead.
Since the coroner could not pin point the exact time of death, the two friends could not be punished for forgery and other related crimes.
Would dogs rescue a newborn left by her mother to die?(3)
No it is not a Disney movie. A mother dumped a newborn baby girl under a pile of mud and left her to die outside a village in Indian state of Bihar. A pack of stray dogs dug the baby out of the mud, and started barking. Villagers came and rescued the baby.
Female infanticide is common in India. According to UN, there are about 2,000 unborn girls killed every day. Indians prefer boys over girls since they have to pay a large sum of money to get their daughters married. Baby girls are in danger if the parents find out the sex before birth. In India testing center would advertise ultrasound scanners with cruel and blatant message like spend $20 now and save $2000 later. But villagers cannot even afford $20, and they mostly abandon their baby girls after birth. This baby girl was lucky. A pack of stray dogs found her in time. They removed the layer of mud off her, and she started crying. The dogs’ barking and the baby’s cry got the attention of the villagers. They came and rescued her. Police is looking for the mother.
The baby girl is doing fine, and was adopted on the spot by a childless couple. It is an unusual story of affection: a newborn is left to die by her mother but stray dogs and strangers come to rescue.
