This generational shift draws modest public debate. But it alarms some policy advocates, who say the United States is reducing vital investments in the future.

Because Democrats and Republicans can't reach a grand bargain on deficit spending with mutually accepted spending cuts and revenue hikes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid keep growing, largely untouched. Steady expansions of these nondiscretionary "entitlement" programs require no congressional action, so they flourish in times of gridlock.

Meanwhile, many discretionary programs are suffering under Washington's decision-by-indecision habits, in which lawmakers lock themselves into questionable actions because they can't agree on alternatives.

The latest example is $80 billion in automatic budget cuts, which largely spare Medicare and Social Security. Growth in these costly but popular programs is virtually impossible to curb without bipartisan agreements.

Instead, the spending cuts are hitting the military and many domestic programs that benefit younger Americans. They include early education initiatives such as Head Start, and scientific and medical research.

This shift in public resources is dramatic and growing. While 14 cents of every federal dollar not going to interest was spent on entitlement programs in 1962, the amount is 47 cents today, and it will reach 61 cents by 2030, according to an analysis of government data by Third Way, a centrist-Democratic think tank.

"Entitlements are squeezing out public investments" in education, infrastructure, research and other fields that have nurtured future prosperity, the study said. "The only way for Democrats to save progressive priorities like NASA, highway funding and clean energy research is to reform entitlements."

But Democrats won't consider entitlement cuts until Republicans agree to increase taxes for the rich. And Republicans, who control the House, refuse to do that.

The Third Way study was written 10 months ago. Since then, partisan clashes that produced the "fiscal cliff" and the automatic cuts have made matters even worse, said the group's vice president, Jim Kessler.

"The foot is on the accelerator with entitlement programs, and it's on the brakes on investments," Kessler said. "And this country needs more investments."

Society must care for the elderly and needy, Kessler said, "but we can't do that at the expense of young people and new ideas."

With baby boomers retiring in huge numbers, total benefits for seniors are bound to grow. "But over the course of decades, Medicare and Social Security spending generally grow faster than inflation, per beneficiary," Kessler said. That squeezes nearly everything else.

According to White House budget records, discretionary spending comprised two-thirds of total federal outlays in 1968 and mandatory spending made up 27.5 percent. The estimate for 2018 has those shares nearly reversed: discretionary programs will consume 27.5 percent of total federal spending, mandatory programs will consume 62 percent and interest on the debt will take about 10 percent.

"Costs linked to the retirement of the baby boom generation," the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said in a recent report, "are a major cause of rising mandatory spending." The current trajectory of federal health care spending, the report said, "appears unsustainable and could place heavy fiscal burdens on younger generations and generations not yet born."

Congress set the sequester cuts into motion as a self-imposed prod in 2011, when the parties deadlocked on how to address deficit spending. The across-the-board cuts were supposed to be so distasteful that both parties would reach a budgetary compromise to avoid them.

It didn't happen, and the cuts began taking effect last March.

They include a $1.6 billion reduction in the $30 billion budget for the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest supporter of biomedical research. NIH Director Francis Collins said the cuts will delay the start of hundreds of medical research projects.

Those paying the price, Collins said, are "ultimately patients and families who are counting on us to find those next promising cures and treatments."

Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health said medical research is popular. He said Congress eventually may find targeted ways to fund it while continuing to cut funds for other important types of research.

The bigger problem, Blendon said, is the gridlock caused by congressional Republicans' refusal to raise taxes and Democrats' refusal to consider entitlement changes without new revenues.

"This is not going to be solved before the 2014 elections," Blendon said, when all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats will be on the ballot.

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Follow Charles Babington on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbabington

Despite injury hampering his international career, the New Zealand-born 27-year-old has scored 11 tries in 34 tests since his debut against Wales in Brisbane in 2007.

Instantly recognisable for his distinctive hairstyles and much-tattooed torso, Ioane is a potent threat in open play with his powerful high-stepping running style often helping him barge past tacklers.

His own fierce tackling is another attribute and it was his role to replace Quade Cooper in the flyhalf slot in defensive situations for Australia.

Local media said his deal with the Paris club was worth in the region of $2.5 million, which persuaded him to leave the Queensland Reds a year before the end of his contract.

"(Digby) has been given an opportunity in France to secure the financial future for himself and his family," Queensland Rugby chief Jim Carmichael said in a news release.

"This was an extremely difficult decision for Digby to make but as the provider for his family, we completely understand his position to pursue a deal overseas."

Ioane played 63 times for the Reds after returning to the province from the Western Force in 2008 and was part of the side the won the 2011 Super Rugby title.

Stade Francais said Ioane would be joining the club on Oct. 21 at the latest, ruling him out of Australia's end of season tour of Europe. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Thursday cleared BlackBerry and Samsung mobile devices for use on Defense Department networks, a step toward opening up the military to a wide variety of technology equipment makers while still ensuring communications security.

Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman, said the department cleared the use of BlackBerry 10 smart phones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets using its Enterprise Service 10 system, as well as Samsung's Android Knox.

"This is a significant step towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems," Pickart said in a statement.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it also expected to clear Apple mobile devices using the iOS 6 system at some point in early May.

The move to open up Defense Department networks is expected to set the stage for an intensified struggle for Pentagon customers among BlackBerry devices, Apple's iPhones or iPads and units using Google's Android platform such as Samsung Electronics' phones.

The Pentagon currently has some 600,000 users of smart phones, computer tablets and other mobile devices. The department has 470,000 BlackBerry users, 41,000 Apple users and 8,700 people with Android devices. Most Apple and Android systems are in pilot or test programs.

The move to open up the networks to a broader array of mobile devices is part of a Pentagon effort to ensure the military has access to the latest communications technology without locking itself in to a particular equipment vendor.

To ensure security, mobile devices and operating systems go through a security review process approved by the Defense Information Systems Agency. Once their Security Technical Implementation Guide - or STIG - is reviewed and approved, the devices can be used on the network.

Pickart said the decision on Thursday did not result in product orders. But it will enable user groups within the Pentagon to purchase the devices most appropriate for their work as the need arises.

"We are pleased to add Blackberry 10 and the Samsung Knox version of Android to our family of mobile devices supporting the Department of Defense," he said. "We look forward to additional vendors also participating in this process."

(Reporting By David Alexander; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Eric Walsh)

So: if you've got questions about the HTC One, or about the wild smartphone market in general, there's no better place to be than right here, starting at 1:30 PM sharp on Monday. Ask us absolutely anything, and we'll do our best to answer.

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will co-host the second hour (8 a.m.) of "Today" on May 24, when the show arrives at his home state, the network said on Tuesday.

"Today" is hitting the road for its "Great American Adventure" during television's sweeps. The cast and crew will travel from coast to coast, visiting five U.S. destinations in one week, starting in Hawaii and wrapping up at the Jersey Shore, which is still recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

Other places on the tour: Yellowstone National Park, Chicago and Orlando.

Christie's hosting appearance is not a political first for the program - fellow Republican Sarah Palin also has hosted "Today" in April 2012.

In other Christie news Tuesday, the New York Post reported that the governor - perhaps as well known for the size of his pants as he is the size of his personality - underwent lap-band stomach surgery in February.

Some believe that the extreme weight-loss measure may have just as much to do with a possible presidential run, though Christie maintains that his familial reasons are the true motivation.

"I've struggled with this issue for 20 years," he told the Post. "For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them."

The student remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday as classes resumed at La Salle High School, an all-male Catholic school west of Cincinnati.

"We are all greatly saddened by the shooting," Archbishop Dennis Schnurr said in a statement. "We pray for the young man's recovery, not only from the self-inflicted wound but also from the personal challenges that led him to take this action."

The Cincinnati archdiocese covers 19 counties, including 114 Catholic primary and secondary schools. Schnurr said there are also prayers for family, the other students and the teacher who were in the classroom Monday morning and for the entire La Salle school community.

Green Township police said there were at least 21 other students in the first-period classroom Monday morning when the student attempted suicide with a semi-automatic handgun. They said no other students or staff were threatened.

The student is a junior and an honors student. He made the top honor roll on the most recent academic report and has been active in Boy Scouts. School spokesman Greg Tankersley said he has an extensive record of community service, and has been "highly involved" in school life.

Green Township police said they would review security at the school, but Chief Bart West said school officials reacted according to their safety plan Monday. The school was put in lockdown, and students were later dismissed to parents.

Improving school security has been a high priority around the state in the aftermath of last year's fatal shooting of three students at Chardon High School in northeast Ohio and the December shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Officials say the FBI and U.S. Secret Service have gotten involved in a bomb-threat investigation at Cuyahoga Falls in northeast Ohio, which was closed Monday as a precaution. There was a similar threat there in March.

The boy's family has requested privacy while they focus on efforts to save his life by the University of Cincinnati Medical Center doctors and staff.

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Contact the reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Telling the parents of babies who spit up and cry frequently that their child has gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, makes them more likely to want medicine - even if they're also told it isn't likely to help much, a new study suggests.

Most babies who spit up don't have an acid reflux problem, researchers said, just a not-quite-developed upper stomach valve.

Still, an increasing number of those kids are being labeled as having GERD - even though a definitive diagnosis normally requires an invasive test.

"Roughly 50 percent of babies during the first six months are spitting up enough to bother their parents," said Dr. William Carey from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who wrote a commentary published Monday with the new study.

"I never offered medication for a kid who was just spitting up and gaining weight well and happy," he told Reuters Health. "I could confidently tell the mother, Look, it's going to be a nuisance until about six months, and then it's gradually going to get better.' It's an irritating variation of normal."

For their study, Laura Scherer from the University of Missouri in Columbia and her colleagues handed out surveys to 175 parents with a hypothetical scenario: their one-month-old infant was spitting up and crying a lot.

The researchers asked parents what they would do if the doctor diagnosed their child with GERD versus if the condition wasn't labeled, as well as what they would do if the doctor told them the medication to treat the condition was ineffective - as research suggests it is - or didn't say anything about its efficacy.

Survey participants were more likely to want medication if their hypothetical infant was given a GERD diagnosis. Even when parents were told the medicine probably wouldn't work, they rated their interest in treatment at about 2.5 out of 5.

However, with no disease label and with information about the medicine's lack of efficacy, parents rated their desire to treat below 1.5 out of 5, the researchers reported in Pediatrics.

"It shows how these kinds of labels can influence how people respond to symptoms," Scherer told Reuters Health. "Words can make an otherwise normal process seem like something that requires medical intervention."

She said current guidelines say the case of an irritable infant who cries and spits up frequently should probably not be treated as GERD - but that if doctors rule everything else out, they can try a two-week course of acid-reducing medication.

That caveat could further confuse doctors and parents into thinking medicine is likely to help, Scherer said.

"It's really becoming pretty clear that GERD in infants is overdiagnosed and overtreated. One reason for this could be that doctors' use of this GERD label could unintentionally increase people's (desire) for medications," she said.

Carey compared what's happening with GERD symptoms to the rising number of very active kids being diagnosed with and treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

"Parents need to know that there are some annoying or insignificant variations of normal which one really needs to just put up with and not treat as a disease," he said.

"Be darn sure that there is an abnormality before treating it as such."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jsoh2P Pediatrics, online April 1, 2013.

The Women in Film organization, which promotes gender parity in the historically male-dominated film business, will honor winners in six award categories at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills in June.

Linney, 49, best known for her Oscar-nominated performance in the 2007 film "The Savages," will receive the award for Excellence in Film.

Five "Mad Men" actresses, Christina Hendricks, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, Jessica Par and Kiernan Shipka, will be honored with the Excellence in Television award.

Each actress plays a character that defines the changing gender roles in the 1960s United States portrayed in the series.

Oscar-winner Coppola, 41, who was also nominated for the Best Director Academy Award for 2003's "Lost in Translation," will receive the Directors Award, and "Star Wars" director George Lucas will take home the Humanitarian Award.

Teenage actress Hailee Steinfeld, known for her Oscar-nominated role in the 2010 film "True Grit," will be honored with the Face of the Future Award and Rachel Morrison will receive the Vision Award for cinematography.

Women in Film began hosting the awards in 1977.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Cynthia Osterman)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Stephen Hawking toured a stem cell laboratory Tuesday where scientists are studying ways to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig's disease, a neurological disorder that has left the British cosmologist almost completely paralyzed.

After the visit, the 71-year-old Hawking urged doctors, nurses and staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to support the research.

Hawking recalled how he became depressed when he was diagnosed with the disease 50 years ago and initially didn't see a point in finishing his doctorate. But his attitude changed when his condition didn't progress quickly and he was able to concentrate on his studies.

"Every new day became a bonus," he told a packed room.

Cedars-Sinai received nearly $18 million last year from California's taxpayer-funded stem cell institute to study the debilitating disease also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control the muscles. People gradually have more and more trouble breathing and moving as muscles weaken and waste away.

There's no cure and no way to reverse the disease's progression. Few people with ALS live longer than a decade.

Diagnosed at age 21 while a student at Cambridge University, Hawking has survived longer than most. He receives around-the-clock care, can only communicate by twitching his cheek, and relies on a computer mounted to his wheelchair to convey his thoughts in a distinctive robotic monotone.

A Cedars-Sinai patient who was Hawking's former student spurred doctors to invite the physicist to glimpse their stem cell work.

"We decided it was a great opportunity for him to see the labs and for us to speak to one of the preeminent scientists in the world," said Dr. Robert Baloh, who heads the hospital's ALS program.

During the tour, Hawking viewed microscopic stem cells through a projector screen and asked questions about the research, Baloh said.

Cedar-Sinai scientists have focused on engineering stem cells to make a protein in hopes of preventing nerve cells from dying. The experiment so far has been done in rats. Baloh said he hopes to get governmental approval to test it in humans, which would be needed before any therapy can be approved.

Renowned for his work on black holes and the origins of the universe, Hawking is famous for bringing esoteric physics concepts to the masses through his best-selling books including "A Brief History of Time," which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Hawking titled his speech to Cedars-Sinai employees "A Brief History of Mine."

Despite his diagnosis, Hawking has remained active. In 2007, he floated like an astronaut on an aircraft that creates weightlessness by making parabolic dives.

Space exploration is important "for the future of humanity," he told the audience.

Hawking said he did not think Earthlings would survive "without escaping beyond your fragile planet."

And he gave some advice: Look up at the stars. Stay curious.

"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at," he said.

Doctors don't know why some people with Lou Gehrig's disease fare better than others. Baloh said he has treated patients who lived for 10 years or more.

"But 50 years is unusual, to say the least," he said.

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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

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