Biologists Richard Morton, Jonathan Stone and Rami Singh have created a statistical model they say could explain how menopause evolved. If men choose to mate only with younger partners, Stone told Salon, this preference "allows mutations that otherwise would be removed by selection -- because the mutations cause negative effects like reduced fertility at older ages -- to accumulate in a population." Essentially, if women were all bearing children early in life, they were able to pass along these age-related mutations to their offspring -- they never got weeded out by natural selection. Over time, mutations conferring infertility may have built up in the population, leading to menopause for all women.

The study authors note that if women preferred to have kids with younger men, this trend would be reversed -- men, essentially, would go through menopause instead.

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Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that stress experienced by young and adult male mice leaves a genetic mark in sperm that can result in an unusually low reactivity to stress in their offspring.

A blunted stress response may sound like a good thing (it's like Klonopin from nature!), but can actually result in a series of irregular stress responses and related disorders, as the researchers note: "Whether such diminished stress reactivity would be detrimental or beneficial to offspring likely depends on the environment into which they were born, as well as genetic background factors."

In order to stress the male mice out, scientists moved them between cages, exposed them to fox urine (a natural mouse predator) and told them that 40 percent of female mice are now the primary breadwinners for their mouse families, imperiling mouse society as they know it.

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In a segment hosted by Dobbs on Wednesday, Erickson called female breadwinners "anti-science," "bad for kids and bad for marriage;" Dobbs later chimed in to say that the rise of female-headed households and single mothers are both "troubling" developments.

After sparring with Dobbs (who, in one of the video's most infuriating moments, condescendingly refers to Kelly as "Oh Dominant One"), Kelly moves on to Erickson, who she shreds for ignoring decades of research about working mothers in favor of his own conclusions about gender, work and parenting.

"Why should we take your word for it, Erick Erickson's science, instead of all of these experts?," Kelly asks.

Because scientists have an agenda, (total and utterly agendaless) Erickson replies.

Watch the full exchange below:

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The Crickett is a small, air-light firearm billed as "My First Rifle" by gun manufacturer Keystone Sporting Arms. It comes in pink and blue. It is a "training wheels" gun, part of the growing youth market in firearms.

As NBC News reports:

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Researchers surveyed 196 parents of children 18 months or younger in a Seattle county with vaccination rates below the national average: 126 of these parents followed the national recommendations on childhood-vaccination from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while 70 delayed vaccination, partially vaccinated or didn't vaccinate their child at all.

While both were informed by friends and family, peer influence in the vaccination "naysayer" group was a much bigger factor than in vaccine "conforming" circles, researchers found. Advice from social networks "blew any other variable out of the water” for vaccine doubters, Emily Brunson, who conducted the research as an anthropology graduate student at the University of Washington, told Time magazine. It “was more important in terms of predicting what parents decide to do than any other factor, including parents’ own opinions," she added.

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Our children are both 13 now. They live in different towns and move about in different circles, and they will, when the time comes, pick their own damn prom dates. And though it should have been obvious back then -- especially for a gay-friendly, big city mom whose children would grow up going to pride parades with their lesbian aunts -- not every boy is going to go to the dance with a girl. Not every little princess dreams of marrying a prince. I had been talking about my children's world as a strictly heterosexual place while they were still in the womb, even though I knew it wasn't. But I'm trying to do better now.

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And so began the media battle between Chua and her critics, a debate that often broke down along "Eastern" versus "Western" parenting styles.

But a new study suggests a cease-fire could be on the way. Researchers at Stanford University found that it isn't the parenting philosophy that matters most to kid's success -- it's the family culture and strength of the parent-child relationship that really helps kids thrive.

As reported by LiveScience:

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Besides bringing us that much closer to the uncanny valley, Diego-san is also providing a deeper understanding of sensory motor and social intelligence in children.

Diego-san stands about 4 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 66 pounds. Its body has a total of 44 pneumatic joints. Its eerily lifelike head contains around 27 moving parts. High definition cameras in his eyes allow him to "see" the world around it -- and the research team is developing algorithms that allow it to “learn” from cues like gestures, facial expressions and other movements. Just like a real baby.

As reported by science website Phys.org:

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It wasn't long before security showed up. And they weren't exactly supportive. As reported by NBC Philadelphia:

“Two security guards walked up to us,” said Autumne Murray of Elkton, Maryland. “They started questioning us and asking us why we were exposing ourselves and saying that we needed to leave or cover up. We got in an argument with them about it for a little bit and then they left.”

When mall security returned, they brought along a Delaware State Trooper who was on routine patrol, according to state police.

“He was asking if we were exposing ourselves saying that the security guards said we were exposing ourselves and that we could be kicked out of the mall if we didn’t cover up,” said Murray.

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According to a report from the Pew Research Center, more than half of all parents polled have begun to restrict their children's news access in the wake of Friday's mass shooting.

Fully 71 percent of parents with children in elementary school are trying to restrict how much coverage of the events their children watch, compared with only 36 percent of parents with older children. Six in ten parents (60 percent) with both elementary-school-age and older children are restricting how much coverage their children watch.

Parents have long grappled with age-appropriate ways to talk with their children about grown-up tragedy, with a number of instructional guides offering suggestions. But the question remains: How much is too much information to share with your kids?

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Inspired by other "millions" marches of the past, a movement to hold a One Million Child march on Washington in February to lobby for "sane" gun laws has sprouted up on Facebook. It's already garnered thousands of likes and RSVPs, because as the organizer, a father of two, asks, "Who could say no to a million kids? Not even Congress." Aside from the fact that Congress has a long and storied history of flipping the bird at kids, minorities, the elderly, the disabled — you get the point – the march has the potential to become a galvanizing moment not just in the debate over guns, but in the lives of thousands of families. It's an opportunity to teach kids the power of their voices, of their hope, of their love — and to show that power to the world.

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Some parents turned their shock and grief into arguments for stricter gun laws, but others say it’s time to think seriously about protecting Second Amendment rights, and maybe even arm teachers so that adults can defend students against attacks like this.

“I do feel that those kids would have been better protected, more lives would have been saved, if someone had had some type of weapon at the school,” says Jillian Mae Hagle, of Tahlequah, Okla., the mother of a 1-year-old.

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Jonathan and Ivory have been in a relationship for five years. They love each other, a lot. Problem is: Jonathan wants kids. Ivory does not. After deciding that this wasn't something they could resolve as a couple, they break up. Amicably. With a lot of respect and compassion for one another. And when it comes time to tell their friends and family about it, they turn it into a song.

And breaking up's a mess
So please be there for us
You don't have to choose
Though it'll be awkward, yes
Invite us to your parties
We will work it out
Don't feel weird
We love all of you
After 5 whole years
By each other's side
There are just some things
No relationship can survive

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McKenna started a petition on Change.org calling on toy manufacturer Hasbro to tone down the gender-typing on the Easy-Bake Oven. The open letter to CEO Brian D. Goldner might feature a pretty adorable video of Gavyn talking about baking (and dinosaurs!), but it's not kidding around. In response to the frilly colorway for the oven, McKenna writes:

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If parents in Norway, a country with a robust public infrastructure to support families, aren't happy, one shudders to think what American moms and dads are up against. Researchers at Texas A&M University found that 90 percent of new parents reported a sudden deterioration in relationship and sexual functioning after having a baby, sudden -- but enduring. A majority of parents reported a persistent degree of unhappiness throughout the eight-year study, released in 2010.

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According to the study's lead author, doctoral candidate Justin Lavner, "The children showed meaningful gains in heterosexual, gay and lesbian families. Their cognitive development improved substantially, while their behavior problems and social development were stable."

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If you’re wondering why, in the darkest, scariest period in my family’s life, I got the bright idea to sign us up for a club where moms and dads die all time, the answer is: because I didn’t really think it through. I had joined the club, a support organization for people with cancer and their loved ones, at the recommendation of my friend Annie after I was diagnosed with stage-4 melanoma last year. Annie had been the one who’d seen right through my flippant assertion that we were all doing “great,” and had suggested tenderly, “Maybe you need a place to sometimes be not great.” I made the call that day.

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