It's hard to avoid logging screen time of some kind on a daily basis, and that's true even in young children. Babies in the U.S. start watching TV early on, with educational DVDs and television shows designed to encourage early language development in pre-preschoolers. The question is, Do instructional DVDs actually help babies learn? To find out, researchers at the University of California at Riverside designed the most definitive study of the issue to date. The study used ...

Some 50 minutes before Game 5 of the NBA Finals Thursday night, which LeBron James labeled the "biggest game of my life," the Miami Heat star could not have been more relaxed. James stood at his locker stall, all smiles, bopping his head to the hip-hop beats playing in the room. Dwyane Wade, another member of the Miami's "Big Three," or "Heatles" or whatever fashionable nickname you choose to call the Heat's best players, was leaned over ...

Not long ago, I spent the morning having coffee with Kanzi. It wasn't my idea; Kanzi invited me, though he did so in his customary clipped way. Kanzi is a fellow of few words — 384 of them by formal count, though he probably knows dozens more. He has a perfectly serviceable voice — very clear, very expressive and very, very loud. But it's not especially good for forming words, which is the way of things when ...

Varsha Vinod's exceptional abilities are hard to spot at first. She's an adorably cute five-year-old girl from southern India, small, pretty with big brown eyes. When we meet for our interview, her hair is tied up in two pig tails, with bright hair clips and a glittering head band. She is as shy as most kids her age would be when confronted by a strange man and a television crew. Some child stars can be precocious but Varsha doesn't act ...

For a house once full of love and children, there sure seems to be a lot of hate going on with the Gosselins. This time, it's former Star reporter Kate Major, who said she and Jon Gosselin had a fling shortly after his breakup with wife Kate Gosselin -- an allegation he's strenuously denied. "I will take a lie detector test and I would love for Jon to take a lie detector test because for him to say there was ...

The reaction to Kanye West's hijacking of the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards came quickly and unequivocally. Celebrities and fans alike expressed their disapproval of West interrupting Swift's win for Best Female Music Video to tout his appreciation of nominee Beyonce. "Taylor, I'm really happy for you," West said after grabbing the microphone from a clearly stunned Swift. "I'll let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos ...

Michael Jackson died of an overdose, according to the preliminary finding of the Los Angeles coroner described in court documents. The King of Pop apparently was given a variety of drugs that included the powerful sedative propofol, according to authorities. (CNN) -- Michael Jackson died of an overdose, according to the preliminary finding of the Los Angeles coroner described in court documents. The King of Pop apparently was given a variety of drugs that included the powerful sedative propofol, according ...

With the Boston skyline a sparkling backdrop framed in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library's enormous windows, 13 of Kennedy's closest friends, colleagues and family members shared their favorite personal, poignant and sometimes bawdy memories of Rose and Joseph's youngest son, Edward M. Kennedy. "Captain Ahab," former Senator John Culver pronounced Kennedy after recounting a college-years tale of the first time Kennedy had taken him sailing — an episode where Culver coughed up two partially digested salmon ...

When it comes to taking spirited vacations, wandering a vineyard falls flat in the face of handcrafted brew. With more than 1,500 breweries across the United States, beer is not just a drink -- it's a destination. "What's happened is that the old world has influenced the new world; the U.S. is now a travel destination for beer, [even] for people from outside of the country," said Julia Herz, craft beer program director at the Brewers Association. "What's so great ...

If Best Buy had a big sale on Blu-ray discs, would you go out and buy a Blu-ray player? The energy markets are kind of like that — natural gas is really cheap, for now, but does that does mean we should build infrastructure for a natural gas-fueled economy? Bargains only last so long, even in this recession. Sorry, T. Boone Pickens. To delve deeper, let's examine why gas prices have deflated so much: Natural gas prices and oil prices are no longer bedfellows ...