Nancy Shute

It's the kind of oops no scientist wants to make. But the researchers who published a paper saying that watching sad movies makes it hard to perceive the color blue now say they erred.

African-American women's advantage in avoiding breast cancer has evaporated, with their rates rising to match white women's. Higher obesity rates, a risk factor for breast cancer, may be one reason.

A lot of people think doctors are being way too absolutist about moderate drinking in pregnancy. But the doctors say since there's no way to know what's safe, it's not worth the risk.

Ten percent of pregnant women say they drink, even though doctors have spent decades saying that birth defects and developmental delays from alcohol can be prevented completely by abstaining.

When drinking is part of the picture, young women are more apt to say their first sexual experience was coerced, and that it wasn't planned with a romantic partner in an ongoing relationship.

Ductal carcinoma in situ often doesn't turn into breast cancer, but most women have surgery for it. The trend is for less invasive surgery, which hasn't affected survival rates.

Firstborns in Britain are more likely to be nearsighted, a finding that matches other studies. Maybe it's because parents are more likely to push studying than they do with subsequent kids.

Hispanics are less likely to get cancer than non-Hispanic whites, but they're more susceptible to gallbladder, liver and stomach cancer. And country of origin affects cancer risk, too.

Older people with low levels of vitamin D are likely to lose memory and executive function more quickly, a study finds. But it didn't look into whether taking supplements could help.

Teenagers aren't always risk-taking gamblers; they put a lot of effort into weighing financial choices, a study finds. Adults are more apt to adopt rules and quickly make choices that are good enough.