The percussive skill needed to bang out rhythms on a drum may help improve socializing, inhibition control and focus among teens with autism, new research suggests. The finding follows work with 36 teens with an autism spectrum disorder. Half were randomly chosen to receive two months’ worth of drum training, based on a standard electronic…  read on >  read on >

If you’re having trouble finding infant formula for your baby due to the nationwide shortage, do not turn to homemade recipes, an expert warns. “Even the best intentions can have devastating results,” said Dr. Diane Calello, a pediatrician and director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center based at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in…  read on >  read on >

Reading to little ones builds bonds with their caregivers and boosts their language and literacy skills, but story time also benefits older kids, a new study reports. Reading to 6- to 12-year-olds for an hour a day in school can boost their intelligence, Italian researchers report. “Does it work? Yes, we found some compelling evidence…  read on >  read on >

The hundreds of cases of monkeypox being reported worldwide likely won’t turn into a pandemic, but much remains unknown about the disease, the World Health Organization’s top expert on the illness said Monday. Dr. Rosamund Lewis said it’s not exactly understood how monkeypox is spreading or whether the halt of mass smallpox immunization decades ago…  read on >  read on >

Beginning June 4, Abbott Nutrition will restart producing baby formula at a shuttered factory that’s been central to the ongoing shortage of infant formula in the United States, the company announced on Tuesday. The factory in Sturgis, Mich., has been closed since February for what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called “insanitary conditions.” In…  read on >  read on >

Children raised by same-sex parents are just as well-adjusted as kids raised by different-sex parents, researchers say. In the new study, the researchers compared 62 Dutch children (aged 6 to 16 years) whose parents were the same sex with 72 kids whose parents were different sexes. The investigators considered prosocial behavior, hyperactivity, peer problems, emotional…  read on >  read on >