Poignant portraits of 50-year-old identical twins reveal how differences in lifestyle have affected the way they age

Twin vision: Chinese artist Gao Rongguo has produced a series of thought-provoking photos depicting identical twins over the age of 50

A Chinese artist has produced a beautiful and thought-provoking series of photos depicting identical twins, all over the age of 50.

Gao Rongguo, 30, who is based in Beijing, titled the poignant photos 'Identical Twins,' but as we can see, most of them have grown apart significantly in appearance since they once shared the same womb.

Mr Rongguo quotes ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius as saying that 50 is the age when people begin to understand their fate. 

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In his accompanying text, he mentions that although his subjects share the same face and upbringing, 'Their lives changed due to various reasons after growing up.'

 

Teach Your Kid Confidence -- from Birth

Every parent wants to raise a confident child who tackles challenges with gusto, who will try new things even if it means risking failure. While these qualities don't come automatically, parents lay the groundwork for a can-do attitude in a child's first few months and years. "Some of our kids come out as tumbleweeds and some of them come out like African violets, but from day one we love them for who they are," says child development expert Michele Borba, EdD, author of Esteem Builders. "Unconditional love and acceptance are the roots of self-esteem."

Alarming photos of the faces of drug users have been released to raise awareness of the impact that narcotics have on the people in their grip.

The photographs show users of cocaine, heroin, and oxycodone, as well as crystal meth.

The campaign was launched by Rehabs.com, the organisation that ran the very successful Faces Of Meth campaign in 2012, which showed the devastating impact of meth addiction.

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Chelsea was arrested four times in less than two years. In her final arrest she was charged with possession of cocaine, heroin and oxycodone.

This latest campaign, More Than Meth: The Faces Of Drug Arrests, aims to show that drugs other than crystal meth can also have a damaging impact on health and appearance.
The photographs are mug shots of the drug users, who are known only by their first names, at the times of various arrests, which in some cases span more than ten years.

 

Could getting married save your life?

Women are far less likely to die from heart disease if they have a partner, researchers claim

• Married women are 28% less likely to die from heart disease
• More likely to get treatment early if a partner encourages them to

Married women are 28% less likely to die from heart disease than unmarried women - and it's all down to nagging.
Researchers say that even though marriage makes no difference to women's chances of developing heart disease, they are more likely to get treatment early is a partner constantly encourages them to.
They also believe that getting married can lead to lifestyle changes, and mean women are more likely to take medication.

Married women are 28% less likely to die from heart disease than unmarried women, researchers have found - and believe they are more likely to get treatment early if a partner encourages them to

HOW THEY DID IT

The findings come from the latest analysis of data from a large UK study of women's health run by Oxford University researchers, the Million Women Study.

This new study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, included 730,000 women who were on average 60 years old.
Over a nine-year period, 30,000 of these women developed heart disease and 2,000 died from the condition.

Over-reliance on pushchairs can hamper speech and physical skills : Too long in a buggy 'harms child's brain'

• Strollers reduced time children spend interacting or exploring
• This can hamper attention, balance and co-ordination skills
• Growing use of tablets can cause similar problems, it is claimed

Bad move: Forward-facing strollers can hamper the development of attention and balance skills

Parents who put young children in buggies and baby seats for too long and too often could be hampering their speech and physical skills, an expert will warn today.
An over-reliance on prams and strollers – particularly those that face forward – reduces the time they spend interacting with parents or exploring freely, it is claimed.
The knock-on effects can harm performance at school and persist for life, according to an expert on children’s brains.
The growing use of tablets and smartphones can cause similar problems, with babies denied opportunities for ‘rough play’, singing and talking.

Why DO babies laugh ;- Early research shows boys laugh more than girls in early months, how true is this?

Whether it’s playing peek-a-boo, tickling their tummy or blowing raspberries, parents usually have a failsafe formula for making their baby chuckle.
What most of us probably haven’t done is stopped to think about why babies laugh at these things.
Step forward Dr Caspar Addyman, a Research Fellow at London Birkbeck University’s Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development — or the BabyLab as it has been dubbed. He is overseeing one of the biggest studies into what makes babies laugh, and why.

Groundbreaking: Dr Caspar Addyman is running the world's largest study into why babies laugh and why

‘Understanding babies also helps us understand adults,’ he says. ‘Babies are little scientists. They are discovering the world and through them we can discover a great deal, too.’

So passionate is he that Dr Addyman — a banker turned psychologist who doesn’t have any children — is funding the research himself. He’s created a detailed questionnaire for parents, as well as asking them to send in videos and short reports of what makes their babies laugh.

So far, 1,400 parents from 25 countries have answered questions ranging from whether their baby was more likely to laugh at a particular time of day to which toys and nursery rhymes they found funniest.

Why fish will keep you active: Eating plenty in old age can reduce chance of medical or physical illness by 39%

Fish can help reduce the risk of medical and physical illness by almost 40 per cent, research shows

Feasting on fish could help to keep elderly people active.

Researchers from the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan asked more 1,000 men and women to fill in a questionnaire designed to assess their mental and physical fitness.
Questions included how easy they found it to use public transport or pay bills and how much they visited friends or were asked for advice.
They were also quizzed about what they ate. 
Those who ate the most animal protein were 39 per cent less likely to have failed mentally or physically seven years later. 
Protein is key for building the muscle needed to protect against falls and fractures but it is thought the body finds it harder to absorb and process the nutrient as we age.  As a result we need more of it to remain healthy. 
However, high amounts of protein only men – perhaps because they lose more muscle in old age.