A team physical Monday revealed that the running back had a fist-sized cyst on his lung. The cyst was drained and removed Tuesday morning, and Harris was already back home Wednesday when he announced the news in a series of tweets.

"Thank God for team physicals!!!" Harris said in the first tweet, posting a picture of himself hooked up to a monitor, a large bandage covering the 1-inch incision on the right side of his chest.

The cyst was not cancerous, agent Dave Lee said, and should not return. Harris needs to let the incision heal, but he should be fully recovered by the time training camp opens next month.

"EVERYTHING IS FINE, (doctors) found a fist sized cyst on my lung next to my heart. Shows the importance of getting routine check-ups, GET YOURS!" Harris tweeted. "It's a (hash)blessing!!! Should be 110 percent very soon and back to work. Thanks for the prayers and keeping me lifted!!! MUCH LOVE."

Harris was the feel-good story of Green Bay's season last year. The journeyman was cut by Jacksonville at the end of training camp, then spent all of four days in Pittsburgh before the Steelers let him go. He went back to Jacksonville and was working at a car dealership when the Packers signed him to the practice squad Oct. 24. Coaches were impressed right away with what they saw from the pint-sized running back he plays much bigger than his 5-foot-8, 208 pounds and when injuries decimated Green Bay's running game, Harris was promoted to the active roster Dec. 1.

His speed, elusiveness and surprising power gave the Packers the consistent run game they'd been searching for all season, and he'd cemented his role as a starter by the end of the season. He rushed for 157 yards and two touchdowns in four games, and caught a team-high five passes in the NFC wild-card win over Minnesota.

"It definitely was a big deal for him last year, and I expect for him to find a way to get back out there again," wide receiver Randall Cobb said.

He might be even better now, too.

The cyst, which doctors believe Harris has had his entire life, was pressing on his lung, reducing its capacity, Lee said. After doctors discovered it, Harris told them he'd occasionally felt pressure in his chest, but assumed it was indigestion.

Now that it's been removed, Harris will have full lung capacity.

"The good news is, it might help him in the long run," said Lee, Harris' agent. "He should be able to have more endurance. I'm not going to say he'll be quicker, but he could last a few more plays. That's the silver lining of it: He's actually going to come out physically in better shape than when he went into the surgery."

Notes: With WR Randall Cobb expected to be one of Aaron Rodgers' primary targets, along with Jordy Nelson and James Jones, his time on special teams would seem to be over. But that depends on his teammates, and whether any one of them can step up and take the job from him, coach Mike McCarthy said. "There's an opportunity there for others to compete and perform," McCarthy said. "We won't know that until training camp." Cobb said he doesn't care what role he plays, as long as he's playing. "It doesn't matter to me as long as we're getting wins," he said. "Whatever it's going to take ... is what I'm down to do." ... McCarthy said the "real football evaluation" of DL Johnny Jolly, who is trying to make the team after being suspended the past three seasons, will come in training camp. ... With Greg Jennings now with the Minnesota Vikings, James Jones joked that "I don't like Greg no more. He left us."... The Packers won't practice Thursday, opting for a team activity instead. What's the activity? "I really don't know what it is yet. We're waiting on the weather," McCarthy said. Steady rain forced the Packers to practice inside both Tuesday and Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A shirt-sleeves summit between the world's two top economic powers is shaping up as anything but relaxing, with an assertive new Chinese leadership seeking a bigger place at the global table and the United States pushing back, especially in the battle over cyberspace.

U.S. President Barack Obama and newly installed Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on Friday in Southern California at a relatively informal retreat aimed at allowing the pair to get to know each other away from the spotlight of Washington.

High-level U.S.-Chinese encounters of recent decades have been unable to match President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Communist China in 1972 that ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing.

But China experts say if Obama and Xi can develop personal rapport - something lacking between U.S. presidents and Xi's notoriously wooden predecessor, Hu Jintao - and make at least a little progress on substantive issues, the summit could gain some historic significance.

Any feel-good vibe at the luxury resort in the desert near Palm Springs could be soured by Obama taking a hard line with Xi over Chinese cyber-hacking of U.S. secrets.

While China worries the United States is trying to encircle it militarily with its strategic "pivot to Asia," the cyber dispute is the most pressing issue for Obama.

"The president wants to be able to have, behind closed doors, a tough and straight conversation with Xi Jinping about our specific concerns," a senior U.S. official said of the cyber-security issue. "Problems and activities emanating from China have a deleterious effect on our companies, on our interests and on our relationship."

The official said Obama would not shy away from pointing out U.S. concerns about hacking, nor would he accept China's "pro-forma protestation" that it too is a victim of cyber intrusions from abroad.

In a sign of an easing of tension over hacking, an Obama administration official said on Saturday a previously agreed high-level working group on cyber security would convene for its first talks in July and meet regularly after that. The official said the panel would focus not only on hacking but on "developing rules of the road for operating in cyberspace."

"Obviously the competitive nature of the relationship will always be there, but there's also a play-by-the-rules aspect to it," another senior Obama administration official said of the cyber-security disagreements with China.

Obama has been under strong pressure to persuade Xi to take U.S. hacking worries seriously, and complaints in Congress about cyber security are growing.

"There has got to be red lines drawn. If the activity continues, there need to be some sanctions," said Shawn Henry, who fought cyber thievery as an FBI assistant director and is now president of the security firm, CrossStrike Services. "They need to understand what the risks are."

The Washington Post reported this week that China had used cyber attacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. China dismissed the report, saying it needed no outside help for its military development.

In the two-day meeting with Xi, Obama will also likely bring up differences over North Korea, world trade and China's territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas.

The talks are an opportunity for Obama to score a foreign policy success at a time when the lack of U.S. action on Syria weighs heavily on his record. He can also turn away from controversies at home that have gotten his second term off to a rocky start.

U.S. PIVOT TO ASIA

Xi is eager to be seen on an even footing with the American leader and to show China's ruling echelon and public that he can promote their interests on the world stage as Beijing seeks what it calls a new "big-power" relationship with Washington that takes into account China's rise.

It is his first U.S. trip since taking over the presidency in March in China's once-in-a-generation leadership transition.

He is likely to express Beijing's unease about a U.S. reorientation of foreign policy and a shift of American military resources toward the Asia-Pacific region as the war in Afghanistan winds down.

The strategy is seen widely as a way of reassuring allies like Japan and South Korea of the U.S. commitment to counter China's power.

Shen Dingli, vice dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Shanghai's Fudan University, said the U.S. "return" to Asia and the security issues it raised was the biggest issue from the Chinese perspective.

"The U.S. goal is stability, but it has really created instability," Shen said.

Beijing has increasingly used its growing economic clout internationally and exercised its military muscle regionally.

Yet China feels hemmed in by the U.S. "pivot to Asia," which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Saturday would involve prioritizing deployments of the most advanced U.S. weapons systems to the Pacific, including the radar-evading F-22 Raptor jet fighter, the F-35 and Virginia-class fast-attack submarine.

"China is going down the path to peaceful development, and other countries must follow suit, for only if this happens can there be peaceful coexistence between nations," the Communist Party's official People's Daily wrote in a front-page commentary about the Xi-Obama talks.

'NOT A SLEEPOVER'

U.S. officials play down the prospects for any big breakthroughs or even major concrete agreements during the California summit.

Xi, 59, will have the kind of face time with the U.S. president that few foreign leaders have been afforded.

The chances are decent that he and Obama, 51, will be able to find the personal chemistry that eluded their predecessors for decades.

Xi - who as president-in-waiting met Obama in Washington in February of last year - is a Communist Party "princeling," the son of a revolutionary leader. But he is also fond of Hollywood movie war dramas.

He has shown himself less stiff in public than his predecessor, and his willingness to forgo the pomp of a White House visit may signal a fresh approach.

The informality of the talks at Sunnylands, a complex where philanthropist Walter Annenberg once hosted U.S. presidents like Ronald Reagan, is unprecedented for U.S.-China relations.

"You've got the ability to really deepen a strategic dialogue and to build trust into the relationship in ways that really haven't been done in a very, very long time," said former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

Although touted as an informal meeting, summits like this one are highly choreographed. Both sides were still negotiating whether the two leaders would hold a joint news conference, an event that is standard procedure when the U.S. president meets a foreign leader on home soil.

One U.S. official helping to organize the agenda made clear that the summit at the estate, which has its own golf course and hiking paths, would be mostly work and little play.

"This is not a sleepover," the official said. "We're not inviting President Xi to have a casual weekend in Palm Springs. This is for real."

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and John Ruwitch in Shanghai; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

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Crazy worked really well for Bachmann for a while. Shea , theof it from small donors. Her most important message was to justify all-out opposition to Obama — otherwise, America would crumble. "If you look at FDR, LBJ, and Barack Obama, this is really the final leap to socialism," . "But we all know that we could turn this around and we can turn this around fairly quickly." She rallied against Obama's "gangster government" in April 2010, saying, "It's ." Bachmann rejected : "Racism is real. Racism is ugly. You hate racism, I hate racism,"in July 2010. Obama's spending showed his "infantilism," she said in September 2010, but on Election Day, " in our country."

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Establishment Republicans didn't just like this message, they made it a strategy.  over health care reform in 2009, they fought to stop it from passing. They failed. They tried to repeal it. They failed. They tried to get it overturned by the Supreme Court. They failed there, too. Stop Obama at all costs — that was the message of Republican leaders: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," Senate Minority Leader . House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called Obamacare "." And Bachmann pushed that message with conservative covers beautifully. Obamacare was "the ," she said in January 2011, foreshadowing the House's 37 votes to repeal it. Back the Tea Party, and by extension, the Republican Party, or watch the country be destroyed from the inside out: "We are at a time in our country when we are ," she said 11 months later in her presidential campaign.

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That message helped sweep Republicans into a majority in the House in 2010. John Boehner rewarded her with an  to the prestigious House Intelligence Committee in 2011. But between then and January 2013, when it looked like she , something happened: the 2012 election. In the Republican primary, Bachmann got a little too crazy. She floated conspiracy theories about vaccines causing mental retardation. There were questions of whether she revealed classified information in debates. She, like most of the other Republican candidates, was anti-immigration. Losing the Latino vote by 40 points helped cost Mitt Romney the White House that fall.

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Bachmann had been very good at adapting to the shifting whims of conservative voters. Bachmann fashioned herself as a spokesman for the Tea Party, even though she was elected in 2006, before the Tea Party existed. Back then, she was a regular evangelical, , not taxes. In 2011, she blended them together, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network she was a "Teavangelical." "We should follow the Constitution, and I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, so I think that makes me a ," Bachmann said. But those positions made it impossible to adapt to the shifting whims of the establishment GOP, which has decided, since the 2012 election, to refashion itself as friendlier to Latinos, open to gays, and offering solutions for the middle class. The fear of Bachmann has become so great that Republicansthe Iowa Straw Poll, the contest that made Bachmann a serious presidential candidate when she won it in August 2011. The Republican National Committee wants a shorter primary with fewer debates -- the better to keep the Bachmanns at bay. Bachmann's star dimmed. Her Tea Party Caucusthis year. And now she's leaving public office. Meanwhile, establishment guys like Mitch McConnell, who benefitted from her crazy, are .

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year loan increased to 3.59 percent this week. That's up from 3.51 percent last week. And it is above the rate of 3.31 percent reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971.

The average on the 15-year loan jumped to 2.77 percent. That's up from 2.69 percent last week. The record low of 2.56 percent was hit on May 2.

Cheaper mortgages are a key reason home sales have increased this year.

In April, sales of previously occupied homes rose at the fastest pace in three and a half years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.And sales of newly built homes jumped to the second-highest rate since July 2008.

More demand, along with a tight supply of homes for sale, has helped boost home prices. It has also encouraged builders to break ground on more homes.

Mortgage rates rose sharply this week because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.

The yield rose above 2 percent Wednesday for the first time since March 14 and was at 2.02 percent Thursday. Investors began selling government bonds Wednesday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed several policymakers favored slowing the Fed's bond purchases, perhaps as early as this summer.

The Fed is buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, which has pushed down long-term interest rates. Once it slows the bond purchases, interest rates are likely to tick up. That would decrease the value of bonds with lower yields.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year mortgages was unchanged at 0.7 point last week. The fee for 15-year loans also was steady at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage held at 2.55 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable-rate loans was unchanged at 0.4 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage edged up to 2.63 percent from 2.62 percent. The fee was steady at 0.5.

Friday's White House event marks the beginning of a public campaign by Obama to temporarily extend current rates or to find a long-term compromise that avoids the scheduled rate increase.

Obama has proposed linking the rates to the financial markets. The Republican-controlled House passed a similar plan last week. But the differences between Obama's proposal and the House bill prompted a White House veto threat.

Obama's plan, unlike the Republican proposal, would lock in the rates for borrowers. The Republican plan would set a cap.

Obama mounted a campaign last year to extend the rates for one year.

The United Kingdom'splummeted in 2012, likely because a record-setting deluge of rain last spring triggered sewage overflows.

Data released by the European Environment Agency on Tuesday (May 21) showed the number of "excellent" beaches in England, Scotland and Ireland those beaches that meet certain standards for intestinal bacteria and E. coli plummeted by a quarter in just one year.

In 2012,stood at just 58.2 percent, down from 82.8 percent in 2011. Further, the United Kingdom's compliance rate with bathing water health standards was among the lowest in the European Union. []

Overwhelming sewage infrastructure

Many of the 629 "bathing waters" identified across the United Kingdom suffered as rainfall deluged the islands between May and June.

According to the U.K.'s environment agency, rainfall ranged between 11 and 17 inches (28 to 43 centimeters) in those three months. Adding to the problem, some of the infrastructure near U.K. beaches needs to be upgraded due to disrepair and capacity issues.

"It was particularly [bad] because of these overflows of sewers," said Peter Kristensen, EEA's project manager of integrated water assessments, in an interview with LiveScience.

"These heavy rainfalls overflow the combined sewers of connected houses and, in some cases, also [overwhelm] drains from farms where water can wash out into streams," he said.

There are projects underway to address this flooding problem, however. For example, Bloomberg News recently reported that London , which was first built in 1858 after a "Great Stink" overwhelmed the city. Construction will start in July and is expected to finish by 2017.

Standards rise across Europe

For the European , scientists examined more than 22,000 waters suitable for bathing across 18 European Union member states as well as Croatia. The report has been generated annually for about two decades, but keeps expanding as new members are added to the union, Kristensen said.

While the United Kingdom's water quality suffered, beaches across Europe saw an overall rise in quality. The EU average for beaches meeting standards was 78.3 percent, but 10 countries more than last year exceeded the standard. Cyprus and Luxembourg tied for top spot at 100 percent of beaches in compliance.

Kristensen said it is difficult to generalize why there is an overall rise in quality across Europe, though he noted several countries have emphasized beach cleanups to attract tourists.

Measures to improve quality can range from simple ones, such as public education campaigns telling people not to walk their dogs along the beach, to upgrading infrastructure to accommodate an expanding population and the wetter weather that is coming due to climate change and other factors.

Follow Elizabeth Howell , or LiveScience , & . Original article on.

Scandals? What Scandals? This Week Is Historical for Another Reason

Months or years from now, this past week may be remembered less for developments in a spate of White House scandals than as a turning point in the war on terror. It is rare to see the commander in chief recalibrate one policy and reconsider another.

President Obama may have made history this week:

While self-inflicted controversies over the IRS, Benghazi, and newsroom snooping may hound Obama for months, this week might be remembered for more.

Ron Fournier

OBAMA ADDRESSES MILITARY SEXUAL ASSAULTS. The presidentdelivered a commencement address to 1,047 graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy today, saying the nation depends on them to stem the rising tide of sexual assaults in the military, The New York Times reported. Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong, Obama said, adding, We need your honor, that inner compass that guides you. Even more than physical courage, we need your moral courage the strength to do whats right, even when its unpopular. The president urged the graduates to remember that honor, like character, iswhen nobody's looking.

RUSSIA: ASSAD GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE PART IN PEACE TALKS. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced today that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to participate in U.S.- and Russia-led negotiations to end the ongoing Syrian civil war. The talks, to be held next month in Geneva, aim to establish parameters for a transitional government. While Assads government has not issued a statement on the talks, a Syrian legislator indicated that the government will participate. The Syrian National Coalition, the leading opposition group, is currently weighing whether to participate and emphasizes the importance of Assads ouster in any negotiated settlement. Russia has not committed to Assads departure, and Assad has said he will serve out his current term, which ends next year.

REPORT: HOLDER APPROVED SEARCH WARRANT ON FOX NEWS REPORTER. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized a search warrant for the private e-mail correspondence of Fox News reporter James Rosen, NBC News reports. Holder has said he recused himself from the Department of Justices investigation involving the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes addressed the DOJs actions with respect to Rosento employees on Thursday. The administrations attempt to intimidate Fox News and its employees will not succeed and their excuses will stand neither the test of law, the test of decency, nor the test of time, he wrote.

THE CABAL THAT QUIETLY TOOK OVER THE HOUSE. For 40 years, the Republican Study Committee has prized ideological purity over partisan loyalty. Members consider themselves conservatives first and Republicans second. They did not come to Washington to play for the Republican team; they came to fight for conservative principles. If that means voting against party interests, so be it. For decades, the committees membership rolls were thin. But as National Journals Tim Alberta reports, for the first time in history, the committee known as the chambers conservative conscience is a majority of the House majority.

IRS SCANDAL MAY HAVE HELPED IMMIGRATION REFORM. The controversy over the IRSs targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny may have improved the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform by providing a distraction, The Washington Posts Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan write. Meanwhile, The Posts Ezra Kleinthat, while scandals often lead to reform, they may not this time.

POLL: ECONOMY STILL BAD, BUT IMPROVING. A new CNN/ORC International poll shows that two-thirds of respondents rated the nations economic state as poor, but that this figure is down from 74 percent in December. Twenty-nine percent of respondents rated economic conditions as very poor, the lowest percentage in more than a year. Any positive changes in the economy appear to have only helped college graduates, while the rest of the country is still struggling, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. The number of college graduates who say the economy is performing well increased to 42 percent from 34 percent, though there was no significant change among those without a college degree, he said.

MARKEYS CAMP RESPONDS TO POND SCUM COMMENT. Rep. Ed Markey hit back at Gabriel Gomez today after Gomez called Markey pond scum, Talking Points Memo reports. Gomezto a web video which includes a picture of Gomez along with one of Osama bin Laden. Markeys spokesperson, Andrew Zucker, called Gomezs comment a new low. Meanwhile, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino endorsed Markey, WCVB, a local Boston TV station, . Markey is also receiving criticism for being absent from Capitol Hill; the Boston Globe that the lawmaker hasnt voted since May 9.

OBAMA TO TOUR OKLAHOMA, NEW JERSEY. On Sunday, the presidentwill tour portions of Oklahoma ravaged by a massive tornado earlier this week, meeting with families and first responders, . On Tuesday, Obama will tour New Jerseys coastline, which was badly damaged by superstorm Sandy last year, with Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Christies praise for the Democratic president at the time of the storm made waves during the 2012 election.

NOMINATE YOUR PICK: 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN UNDER 35. A generation of change has empowered women and transformed Washington in the process. Who are the young women emerging today as leaders and decision makers in the administration, Congress, the media, nonprofits, the private sector, and on K Street? National Journal wants want to hear who you think should make the list!  

ROMANCE-NOVEL AUTHOR POINTS TO BACHMANN AS INSPIRATION. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is the inspiration behind Fires of Siberia, an e-book set to be released next month, Politico reports. The novel is about a presidential candidate who must confront her deepest self and choose between civilization and a wild, primitive ecstasy. The author, Try Sager, said the main character had some physical resemblance to Bachmann, whom he admires. I do feel that one of the reasons that she drives people crazy is because shes a woman in power and I think that its a phenomenon in our culture that makes people react strongly. Couple that with her attractiveness and sex appeal, and I thought, OK, well maybe a romance novel is a good place to look into some of these cultural feelings.

Stop going online and texting and stuff, man! I aint worried about you, thats your business, just stay off line. Stay off Instagram, man!Lori Coad, a homeless woman, yelling at former Rep. Anthony Weiner at a Harlem metro station. ()

A GRIM MILESTONE FOR AMERICA. This year, the United States is expected to surpass 40,000 suicide deaths, the highest annual total ever recorded, Newsweek reports. The shootings, stabbings, poisonings, drownings, strangulations, and deaths by unspecified means (which the magazine describes as a catch-all column for the most inventive forms of self-destructionthe swan dives into lava, the encounters with farm equipment ) are more than what could be expected based on population growth. They now outpace the rate of driving deaths. And researchers are groping to explain the cause, with joblessness and similar reasons failing to provide a full answer. As author Tony Dokoupil observes, the takeaway is darkly profound: Weve become our own greatest danger.

COMEDIANS GIDDY OVER OBAMAS PROM PICS. WhenTime published a few photos of President Obama at age 17 at his prom in Hawaii, wearing a white jacket and a lei around his neck, the late-night television hosts were all over it. On NBC, The Tonight Show's Jay Leno quipped that Obama used to be able to get phone numbers without the aid of the Justice Department. ABCs Jimmy Kimmel commented on Obamas love life in high school, saying, Girls in Kenya are very good-looking.

HOW TO SURVIVE A MARATHON MARKUP. Rule One: Empty your bladder. Rule Two: Charge your phone. Veteran National Journal reporter Fawn Johnson offers lessons in survival for anyone covering, lobbying, or staffing lawmakers who mark up an 800-plus-page bill, as members of the Judiciary Committee did this week when passing immigration reform.  

INSIDE AN OKLAHOMA SCHOOL DURING THE TORNADO. As ABC News reports, a fifth-grade teacher at Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma captured the horrific moments as she huddled with her students in the dark during Mondays massive tornado, assuring them that its almost over. The tornado killed 24 people, 10 of them children. .

The FDA said the results of a recent study showed that children exposed to valproate products in the womb had lower IQ at the age of six than children who were exposed to other antiepileptics.

Drugs containing valproate are used to prevent migraine headaches, treat epileptic seizures and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Abbott Laboratories' Depacon, Depakote, Depakote CP, Depakote ER and Depakene, and Noven Therapeutics LLC's Stavzor and their generics contain valproate. (http://r.reuters.com/nej87t)

Drugs containing valproate already carry a boxed warning for birth defects.

"Valproate medications should never be used in pregnant women for the prevention of migraine headaches because we have even more data now that shows the risks to the children outweigh any treatment benefits for this use," FDA's Director of the Division of Neurology Products, Russell Katz said.

This is the second time the FDA has warned on drugs containing valproate. In a June 2011 press release, the regulator had issued interim results of a study showing reduced cognitive functions in three-year-old children exposed to valproate.

(Reporting By Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

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Pew shows how Facebook has been slowly colonized by the very forces teens signed up to escape: watchful parents, too-old adults, and "drama" — nasty conversations that would never arise in real life. To contend with these annoying developments, teens aren't deleting their Facebook accounts; they're just using them less and less, spending more time on Twitter and Instagram, where conservations are limited to short-form text, links, and simple photos; or Tumblr, which emphasizes content over consolidated user profiles. Here's how one (anonymous) interviewee put it to Pew :

Female (age 15): “I have a Facebook, a Tumblr, and Twitter. I don’t use Facebook or Twitter much. I rather use Tumblr to look for interesting stories. I like Tumblr because I don’t have to present a specific or false image of myself and I don’t have to interact with people I don’t necessarily want to talk to.”

Indeed, teenagers have become acutely aware of how social media alters our understanding of human identity. When asked to discuss Facebook's shortcomings, another pair of teens explained:

Female (age 14): "OK, here's something I want to say. I think Facebook can be fun, but also it's drama central. On Facebook, people imply things and say things, even just by a like, that they wouldn't say in real life."

Male (age 18): “It’s because [Facebook] it's where people post unnecessary pictures and they say unnecessary things, like saying he has a girlfriend, and a girl will go on and tag him in the picture like, me and him in the sun having fun. Why would you do that?”

"Where people post unnecessary pictures and say unnecessary things" is probably not the slogan Facebook was hoping for, especially among such an impressionable demographic. But it's probably music to Marissa Mayer's ears — Yahoo's $1.1 billion deal for Tumblr is being seen as something of a sea change in social media from whatin today's paper as a "passive" kind of "social directory," as opposed to, say, Tumblr, one of many sites that have "come up with ways to let people control and generate content and project identity." Because that's, you know, a little bit more real these days.

With any luck (and some good weather), all four of thesesights may be readily available to us in the near future. Here is a list of the Top 4 and when we might expect to see them:

A total eclipse of the sun

It lasts only a few minutes. It occurs on average just once every 18 months, and then has a perverse habit of taking place over Earths most remote, inhospitable places. Yet people will travel to the ends of the Earth, sparing no expense or trouble, to see it. []

You havent really lived until youve experienced a total . But beware! This is not something you can just put on your bucket list to do just once in your life and be satisfied. Its addictive; once youve see one, youll want to see them all.

The nextwill occur later this year, on Nov. 3. But before you start packing your suitcase, be advised that the eclipse track for this event starts out over the open waters of the Atlantic midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico and heads east, ultimately passing south of the Cape Verde Islands, then curves southeastward parallel to the African coastline.

The path width will reach a maximum of just 36 miles (58 kilometers) about 250 miles (402 km) off the coast of Liberia, where the sun will be totally eclipsed for 100 seconds. The shadow track will then sweep across central Africa, passing over sections of Gabon, Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Kenya, before ending at sunset at the Ethiopia-Somalia border not where most people would think of taking the wife and kids for a weekend jaunt.