New research, published in Science, shows strong evidence that children fare much better in foster care than in an institution. The study -- conducted in Bucharest, Romania -- could be a wake-up call to nations that feel institutionalization is the best way to handle abandoned children. Children reared in institutions showed greatly diminished intellectual performance relative to children reared in their families of origin. Further, children who were randomly assigned to foster care experienced "significant gains in cognitive function."

We've pointed out for a long time that the DMCA is bad for innovation and needlessly inconveniences users. It seems the point is becoming so obvious that even senior executives in the movie industry are beginning to tacitly acknowledge (via Ars Technica) that the DMCA is unreasonable. At a conference on DRM last week, Scott Smyers, VP of network and systems architecture for Sony Electronics, admitted that he makes backup copies of his kids' DVDs. For those keeping score at home, not only is copying DVDs illegal under the DMCA, but Sony itself participated in a lawsuit to shut down a company making precisely the sort of DVD-backup software Smyers is presumably using to copy his kids' movies. Meanwhile, Jim Helman, the chief technology officer of MovieLabs, a research organization funded by the major studios, says that one of the most promising new devices on the horizon is a video jukebox that will let you rip your DVD collection onto a hard drive and then stream your movies to all the devices around your house. That is, unless the studio-backed DVD-CCA uses the DMCA to prohibit the creation of DVD jukeboxes. Helman and Smyers are absolutely right. If only their bosses would listen to them. They should point out to their bosses at the major studios that allowing people to create useful hardware and software products could be good for their bottom line, because it would make the movies they sell more useful to consumers.

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Heart of barkingness

A team of cryptozoologists is headed for the South American jungle to track down a legendary apeman said to terrorise villages and tear out cattle tongues.

The first few days at school can be an anxious time as children face the challenge of a new environment and making new friends but according to new research children show signs of stress three to six months before term even starts. Why a preschool child should be anxious about an event so far in the future is something of a mystery but the scientists speculate that parents were getting stressed about their children starting school and that their stress was being passed on to the children.