SAT Tests: The Long and Short of It
Few tests are more critical to a college-bound student’s future than the SAT. For countless youth, the score might mean the difference between going to the school of their choice or settling for a rewarding career as a fry cook. Thousands study relentlessly in an effort to improve their scores. As it turns out, though, the secret to getting a good score on the SAT essay may be deceptively simple: Write long. That’s the conclusion of Milo Beckman, a 14-year-old high school student who’s already taken the test twice. The second time he took it, his essay scored higher—even though he thought the actual essay was worse. The difference? Word count. So he started doing some research among his fellow students and found that of the 115 instances he studied, the longer essays almost always were given higher scores. “The probability that such a strong correlation would happen by chance is 10 to the negative 18th,” Beckman said. “So…18 zeros and then 18. Which is zero.” Granted, any 14-year-old high-schooler who spends his free time correlating SAT scores probably won’t have too much trouble getting into college. Even the SAT’s College Board was duly impressed—even if it thinks Beckman was dead wrong. “…It’s very common for longer writing samples to more effectively convey nuanced, persuasive arguments,” the Board said in a statement. (ABC News)

Teen Oral Sex Linked to Higher Rates of Intercourse
Some youth believe oral sex isn’t sex at all, which makes it OK to dabble in and (they say) still remain a virgin. A new study suggests that teens who engage in oral sex are far more likely to go all the way. The three-year study found that of teens who had oral sex sometime in the ninth grade, nearly half had intercourse by the 11th—and 25 percent had had intercourse before the end of the school year. As such, researchers think teens should receive more education concerning all forms of sex—particularly the dangers therein. “I see most of the health policies out there and guidelines for preventative services talking about sex generally, but they do not specify oral sex,” said Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco and the study’s lead researcher. “That is an important distinction because teens don’t consider oral sex to be sex, and many are not aware of the risks involved.” (CBS News)

E-Cigarette Maker Crosses Minors off Customer List
Smoking Everywhere, one of the country’s biggest producers of electronic cigarettes, has settled a lawsuit with the California Attorney General’s office in which it’s agreed not to sell or market its products to minors. E-cigarettes are designed to look just like regular cigarettes, but users don’t light them. Instead, each cig comes with a nicotine cartridge, and users inhale a vapor from the cartridge. The cartridges come in flavors, as well—everything from chocolate to banana. The new settlement forbids Smoking Everywhere from selling flavored cartridges (which critics believe might attract teen smokers) or marketing its products as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A New Kind of Educational TV
Forget reading, writing and ‘rithmatic. While most preschool programs have done their best to make sure they give viewers a steady dose of educational material, the new Disney Junior Channel will offer its pint-size fans a different sort of education: One geared toward teaching kids social skills. They don’t honestly think kids are going to learn how to read from watching a TV show,” says Carolina Lightcap, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, referring to the loads of research Disney’s done on the subject. The channel is expected to premiere in 2012. (New York Times)

Quote:
“It absolutely blows my mind that zombies, which, for decades, was this subgenre of horror that appealed to a core group of geeks like me, has gotten so much mainstream acceptance in the last five years. All these years, all these decades, I was part of this little group of people with a very specialized interest, and suddenly this obscure thing has blossomed into grandmothers walking into Barnes and Noble and buying zombie books for their grandkids. It’s a very strange feeling. I’ve been busy on this production for a year, and I poke my head up and, all of a sudden, zombies are everywhere.”—Frank Darabont, creator of AMC’s new zombie-themed show “The Walking Dead” (Time)