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Education

Study Sez Txt Msgs Make Kidz Gr8 Spellrz 375

Posted by timothy from the adversity-breeds-strength dept.
Picknz writes "The Telegraph reports that researchers have found texting can improve literacy among pupils by giving them extra exposure to word composition outside the school day. According to the report, the association between spelling and text messaging may be explained by the 'highly phonetic nature' of the abbreviations used by children and the alphabetic awareness required for successfully decoding the words. 'It is also possible that textism use adds value because of the indirect way in which mobile phone use may be increasing children's exposure to print outside of school,' says the report. 'We are now starting to see consistent evidence that children's use of text message abbreviations has a positive impact on their spelling skills,' adds Professor Claire Wood. 'There is no evidence that children's language play when using mobile phones is damaging literacy development.'"
Image

The Fuel Cost of Obesity 285

Posted by samzenpus from the 20-miles-per-cheeseburger dept.
thecarchik writes "America loves to complain about gas mileage and the cost of gasoline. As it turns out, part of the problem is us. How much does it really matter? A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 1.1 percent increase in self-reported obesity, which translates into extra weight that your vehicle has to haul around. The study estimates that 1 billion extra gallons of fuel were needed to compensate for passenger weight gained between 1960 and 2002."

Comment Maybe this is the solution for the social networks (Score 0) 159

by manybit (#33229092) Attached to: Man Patents Self-Burying Coffin
Facebook and Twitter should automatically send this to the home of their dead users and then -maybe- people would stop complaining that the social networks aren't doing enough on death? But I guess people would just complain when they get a coffin a few years too late, so how about a coffin on sign-up? "Sign up today and get this brand new self-burying coffin!"

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