Parents acting differently with different children—for example, being more positive with one child and more negative with another, not only affects the child who receives more negative feedback, but all the children in the family, a new study has revealed.

The study also found that the more risks experienced by parents, the more likely they will treat their children differentially.

“Past studies have looked at the effects of differential parenting on the children who get more negative feedback, but our study focused on this as a dynamic operating at two levels of the family system: one that affects all children in the family as well as being specific to the child at the receiving end of the negativity,” Jennifer M. Jenkins, Atkinson Chair of Early Child Development and Education at the University of Toronto, who led the team said.

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As celebrities are becoming seemingly more slender with every passing day, more of us are turning to liposuction for a helping hand, which has helped the surgery become world’s most heavily requested treatment, according to the latest statistics.

Figures released this month from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS) also showed that people are so eager to seek out the best possible treatment that they are ready to travel to find the newest and most effective methods – with London emerging as the best place for fat removal, the Daily Mail reported.

One London clinic has reported a 35 percent rise in enquiries for their minimally invasive liposuction technique, driven in part by an increase in overseas visitors travelling to London for their treatments.

In 2012, The Private Clinic on Harley Street experienced a 34.9 percent increase in enquiries for VASER liposuction and VASER Hi Def – both forms of minimally invasive liposuction – compared to 2011.

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As Valentine’s Day approaches, the American Chemical Society (ACS) – the world’s largest scientific society, has released a new Bytesize Science video today featuring five chemistry facts that highlight why chocolate, in moderation, may be good for you.

The video, produced by the ACS Office of Public Affairs, is available at www.BytesizeScience.com

The video explains how a bar of chocolate contains hundreds of compounds, many with beneficial properties.

Among the video’s “sweet” facts were that chocolate may improve your mood, and not just because of its delicious flavor.

Chocolate contains a number of chemicals that inhibit the breakdown of the neurotransmitter anandamide — sometimes called “the molecule of bliss” — which can block feelings of pain and depression.

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As many as a half a million American lives could be saved if they all ate a fraction of a teaspoon of salt less every day, according to a new study.

The study found that a gradual decrease in salt consumption over a decade — ending in a 40 percent reduction — would prolong the lives of between 280,000 and 500,000 people by decreasing the risk of hypertension and heart disease.

“It certainly confirms the enormous potential value in reducing the consumption of sodium,” Michael Jacobson, executive director of the consumer watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest said.

The study is novel in that three groups of researchers using different methods all came to the same conclusion, he said.

Americans ingest, on average, 3,600 milligrams of sodium daily, compared with 1,500 recommended by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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