(POP NEWS): Jolie-ing; Portman's Ring; Affleck, Jr; Hudson's Feelings; Sleeping; One Million attacks Archie!

SUPER: New Meme Gets Kick Out of Jolie 'Leg Bombing'!

OFFICIAL: Natalie Portman Shows Off Wedding Ring!

A-BOY: Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck Have Baby Boy!

FEELING: Hudson Didn't Want Sister to Marry Alleged Killer!

AWAKE: Sleeping Pills Lead to Risk of Early Death?

ATTACKED: 'One Million Moms' Threaten 'Toys R Us' with Boycott for Selling 'Archie' Comic Featuring Gay Couple!

 

 

 

(POP NEWS): Zac's Condom; Harry Potter SEX; Sleep; Baron Cohen Barred; Routh goes Gay!

SAFE: Zac Efron Drops Condom on Red Carpet!

ACTION: JK Rowling Lands Deal for New Adult Book!

SECRETS: Forget 8 Hours of Sleep: Try 4 Hours, Twice!

TERMINATED: Baron Cohen's Dictator Barred From Oscars!

TYPE-CAST: Brandon Routh & Michael Urie play couple in pilot!

 

Key to 'Gaydar': Facial Symmetry?

Wondering why you instinctively consider someone gay or straight? Try looking at the shape of the person's face. A new study says that people who identify as straight have a more symmetrical face than those who identify as gay. Researchers found this out by having 40 subjects identify the sexuality of 60 people after looking at their photographs, ScienceDaily reports. "We were surprised to find that symmetry played a larger role than masculine/feminine features in assessing sexual orientation," says the lead researcher, who notes that "the ability to assess the sexual orientation of others may be an adaptive trait. In terms of mate selection and romance, it's crucial to recognize" sexual orientation.

GENDERED: Critics Bash Sexist 'Girly' Legos!

A new line of Legos made especially for girls just doesn't stack up for critics who complain the Lego Friends' line is needlessly gender-biased, reports the LA Times. With bright colors, stylish clothes, and slim female figurines, Lego Friends is facing online petitions and strong words from the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals.

The new Legos are "devoid of imagination and promote overt forms of sexism," complains the association, and send girls a message "that being pretty is more important than who you are or what you can do." The Denmark-based toy company, however, says it is only responding to customer demand. "We heard very clear requests from moms and girls for more details and interior building, a brighter color palette, a more realistic figure, role play opportunities and a story line that they would find interesting," says one Lego exec, who says that the Friends line was not just for girls. "We know that many girls love to build and play with the wide variety of Lego products already available."

FLEXED: No Pain, No Gain? Think Again!

A new trend emerging among recreational athletes is extreme exercise, but this habit of overtraining is counterproductive to getting fit and healthy, writes Gina Kolata for the New York Times' Well blog. The body needs to rest—between sets, between days of exercise, etc.—a sentiment that many well-meaning amateurs don't know or acknowledge. “People think a good workout is, ‘I am in a pile of sweat and puking,’" says a UConn professor, but really it "means you went much too quickly, and your body just can’t meet its demands.”

What to do? No precise method for avoiding an overly strenuous training program exists because individual athletes vary greatly, but recreational athletes tend to underestimate the importance of taking time off for recovery. Know the signs: Overtraining begins with constant tiredness and can bottom out in depression. Be aware of your fatigue, recommends a sports psychologist; keep a diary if it helps, and be willing to cut down if the fatigue persists.

DIRT: Gossip Is Good for You!

Dishing dirt behind someone's back is a beneficial activity, say scientists. Spreading gossip—defined as alerting others that a person has behaved badly—helps maintain social order and even lowers the stress of the gossiper, according to a new study out of UC Berkeley and reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Researchers set up experiments involving people cheating at games. Observers who witnessed the cheating experienced a spike in their heart rates, but when they sent "gossip notes" to others about the cheating, their heart rates dropped. "We tend to think of gossip as a bad thing and it gets a bad reputation, but if you were to remove it, that would be at the cost of social order," says the study's co-author. "Much of what we call gossip is driven by a sincere desire to help others. Gossip can make you feel better. You might even say it's therapeutic."

WASTED: Character Trait Makes for a Mean Drunk!

Ah, Christmas: good cheer, festive dinners, and people who drink enough to say what they really think of you. Clearly some personality types should hold off on that third drink. Scientists recently studied the subject and found that people who focus on the here and now—rather than on repercussions—are most likely to get nasty, LiveScience reports. If you think ahead, "it is unlikely getting drunk is going to make you any more aggressive than you usually are," one researcher says.

The study involved a mild form of torture. Participants were given mixed drinks and told to play a computer game against an anonymous opponent—really the computer letting each person win half the time. Participants received an electric shock when they lost and were allowed to give one when they won. The here-and-now, impulsive types with the stiffest drinks gave the longest, hardest shocks, while alcohol had little effect on punishment doled out by forward-thinking people.

BEN-e-FITS: Same-Sex Marriage Laws Improve Gay Health!

Want to improve the health of gay men? Just legalize gay marriage, the New York Daily News reports. A new study shows that gay men in Massachusetts visited a health care clinic 13% less often after same-sex marriage was legalized in the state in 2003. The result suggests "that marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions," says an expert behind the study.

The 12-month study of more than 1,200 patients at a gay health care clinic also found that their health costs dropped by 14%. Both single and attached gay men benefited from the same-sex marriage law. The study backs up earlier research that showed that banning gay marriage had a negative effect the health of homosexuals. Six states have legalized gay nuptials so far: Iowa, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont, in addition to Massachusetts. Washington, DC, allows for it, too.

REVEALED: Does Loud Music Make Us Drink More?

Make sure you have a designated driver the next time you head to a rock concert: Booze tastes sweeter when it's drunk in an environment where loud music is playing, which means blaring tunes could lead to excessive alcohol consumption, finds a new study. "Since humans have an innate preference for sweetness, these findings offer a plausible explanation as to why people consume more alcohol in noisy environments," says the study's author. In his study, 80 participants were subjected to one of four levels of distraction—from zero disturbances to boisterous music playing while simultaneously reading a news article—while tasting a number of drinks, reports the Press Association.

They then rated those beverages' alcohol strength, sweetness, and bitterness; those consumed while people were just listening to loud music rated significantly sweeter. These results, says the study's author, "has implications for bars, the drinks industry, and local authorities."

HEALTHY: Obama Fit, Smoke-Free, Physical Says!

He may be sporting more than a few new gray hairs, but Barack Obama is physically no worse for the wear, according to his second physical as president. At the big 5-0, Obama is fit and "tobacco free," eats a healthy diet, is physically active, and is poised for “staying healthy at 50-plus," writes Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman in a two-page report. “The president is in excellent health and fit for duty. All clinical data indicate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency."

Kuhlman noted that Obama “on occasion drinks alcohol,” and has a “well-healed lower lip laceration ”—courtesy of an elbow he caught during a basketball game last year, reports the New York Times. Obama has also had benign skin tags removed from his neck, and occasionally undergoes physical therapy to address nagging issues with his back, the report notes.

REFORMED: Neo-Nazi Loses Racist Beliefs—and Tattoos!

Bryon Widner, once one of America's most notorious white supremacists, turned his back on racism—but still had a face covered in racist tattoos. Shunned by society and unable to find work, Widner says he became so desperate he considered dousing his face in acid to remove them. Instead, Widner and his wife turned to a former sworn enemy: the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization that tracks hate groups and aggressively works to shut them down. After determining that the skinhead gang founder's change of heart was genuine, the SPLC found a donor willing to foot the approximately $35,000 bill for tattoo removal. Extensive facial tattoos are rare and it took almost a year to find the right doctors.

Widner—who had been forced to flee his native Michigan after receiving death threats from his former comrades and finding pig manure on his cars—underwent a total of 25 surgeries to remove the tattoos from his face, neck, and hands. The pain was so agonizing he had to be put under general anesthetic for every operation; he emerged from each one with burns and oozing blisters. Widner is in the process of inking over extremist tattoos elsewhere on his body. He has built a new life with his wife and young son, but still suffers migraine headaches and has to stay out of the sun. "It's a small price to pay for being human," he tells the AP

BUILT: “Man of Steel” Henry Cavill's Men’s Health cover!

HEALTH ALERT: Boys Should Get HPV Shot, Too!

A CDC committee voted overwhelmingly today to recommend the HPV vaccine for boys as well as girls, reasoning that it will protect them from some cancers of the penis and rectum, while also preventing them from transmitting HPV to the people they sleep with. Twelve panel members voted for the recommendation, with one abstaining, CNN reports.

The committee recommends boys get the shot as early as age 9. The vaccine has been FDA approved for males since 2009, but it hasn’t been marketed toward them. The CDC is making this push now in part because not as many girls are being vaccinated as doctors had hoped. “If the boys are also immunized, it reduces the transmission back and forth,” one CDC adviser explained.

OPTIONAL: Skip Prostate Screening (Only if your Doctor is Un-Attractve)!

A potentially big change in men's health care: A governmental health panel is about to recommend that men stop getting screened for prostate cancer, reports CNN. The Preventative Services Task Force has concluded that the commonly used PSA blood test often does more harm than good because it leads to invasive treatments with nasty side effects, adds the New York Times.

The report is to be formally unveiled on Tuesday, followed by a period of public comment. Researchers based their recommendation on five clinical trials. They concluded that the PSA screening, sometimes accompanied by a digital rectal exam, results in "small or no reduction" in deaths. The test does indeed detect antibodies, but the cancer usually spreads so slowly that it's better to let it go rather than subject men to treatments whose side effects include impotence and incontinence, according to the report.

WARNING: 'Text Neck' Factor!

Texting is turning out to be a real pain in the neck. Dedicated texters are spending so much time with their heads bent over their cellphones or iPads that it's causing muscle strain, creating headaches, neck and back pain, and even problems with fingers and wrists, warn doctors who are treating increasing cases of "text neck." For the totally text-obsessed, the muscles can eventually adapt to the flexed position, making it painful to straighten up, reports the Telegraph.

The average human head weighs 10 to 12 pounds, and the neck and shoulders are not made to support it for long stretches over a cellphone. Children are most at risk because their heads are larger in relation to their body size than adults. "When the head is over the shoulders it is a bit like a balanced see-saw, and when you move it forward you need to put a force in place to keep it in that position," explained one doctor. "The longer you are in that position for, the more the muscles have to accommodate it." But isn't it impossible to give up texting? Absolutely. So you've got to take frequents breaks; stretch your head, neck, and back; and try holding the phone higher, suggest experts.

NOT PROTECTED: Contraceptive Shot May Double HIV Risk!

Alarming new research out of eastern and southern Africa, where both unplanned pregnancies and AIDS wreak havoc: The most popular contraceptive used by women there appears to double their risk of contracting HIV—and if a woman already has HIV, it doubles her risk of transmitting it to her partner compared to women who use no contraception. The study centers around a hormone shot given once every three months, which is the best contraception available in Africa today, one expert tells the New York Times: “If it is now proven that these contraceptions are helping spread the AIDS epidemic, we have a major health crisis on our hands.”

The fate posed by unplanned pregnancies is often no better: Hundreds of thousands of African women suffer injuries, bleeding, infection, or death in childbirth. Worse, the study also found that pregnancy itself doubles the risk of contracting or transmitting HIV, meaning women could still face the same increased risk should they decide to stop taking the hormone shot. In light of the study, WHO will meet in January to re-evaluate its contraceptive recommendations. The reason for the increased risk is not clear, though researchers essentially ruled out the possibility that decreased condom use was a factor.

CUT: Calif. Bans Circumcision Bans!

The state of California has snipped San Francisco's uppity bid to erect a ban on circumcision. Any such ban is now banned in a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Ban backers had collected nearly 8,000 signatures to put the measure to a vote in the city in November, arguing that circumcision is unnecessary surgery that can be dangerous. The issue was pretty much moot, even before the new state law, because a judge had already blocked the ballot measure that stirred controversy among Jews, Muslims, and many in the medical community. The state law was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto, who told the Los Angeles Times that the measure, signed yesterday, would "protect parental rights and liberties."

SCARY: Woman Gets Uniboob in Botched Surgery!

In the 48 states where doctors don't need to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons to perform plastic surgery, unwary patients run the risk of ending up like Dinora Rodriguez, experts warn. The 40-year-old woman was left with a merged "uniboob" by an uncertified surgeon who had incorrectly told her that her breast implants needed to be repaired. Rodriguez, the face of the board's latest safety campaign, was also left with eyes that won't fully close after the surgeon performed a "lid lift" procedure that she hadn't requested.

The uncertified surgeon "cut across muscles you should never cut across," the surgeon who performed reconstructive surgery on Rodriguez tells ABC, noting that botched plastic surgeries are on the rise because unqualified surgeons are seeking to boost their income by offering cosmetic procedures. "The crazy thing is that for every Dinora that goes to the media there are at least 100 patients who don't speak up because they are ashamed."

TREMORS: DeGeneres Has Chest Pain Scare!

Ellen DeGeneres says she's doing fine after feeling chest pains yesterday—and she wants to "thank" TMZ for spreading the news that paramedics were called after she felt unwell during a producers meeting yesterday. "What happened was last night I was having chest pains. So this morning the paramedics came to look at me. First of all, I'm fine. Let me just say, I'm fine," the 53-year-old comedian said, quipping: "The paramedics were strippers that I had called."

"We called the paramedics here on the Warner Bros. lot and about 50 trucks and ambulances, like one marching band short of a parade, showed up outside of my office," said DeGeneres, who was not hospitalized. "I have a baboon heart that I had put in earlier … It's not true. But I want to say thank you to all the paramedics and the nurses who showed up and everybody and TMZ—for caring so much."

BITCHIN': Anderson Cooper Points Out That Michele Bachmann is a Big (FAT) Liar!

Anderson Cooper talks with Bachmann's former Chief of Staff Ron Carey and David Gergen and asks if Michele Bachmann's lie about the HPV vaccine Gardasil and mental retardation will be the one that makes people realize she flat-out lies all the time.

"So are these 'things' written out in advance for her, or are these 'things' in her head and pop out?"