Cesca became addicted to writing whilst at university.

Our chemically washed, hygienic environment may be posing a threat to our children’s health. Helen O’Callaghan weighs up the evidence.

Rachel Joyce

Parents have struggled for years with how to get their teenager out of bed in time for school - now researchers are attempting to discover if a lie-in leads to better exam results.

A review of studies into how high-voltage cables, and pylons, affect people’s health released by the European Commission was lambasted by an expert in the field who said it omitted important new studies.

John Bradsha, of Bristol University, quotes an Irish legend at the beginning of his new book on cats; ‘a cat’s eyes are windows enabling us to see into another world’.

A Corkman is part of a crew that is on pace to break the world record for rowing around Britain.

Trainer Colin Tizzard has challenged Cue Card’s rivals to take him on from the front in today’s Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

A well-preserved historic crocodile skull has been declared a new species.

WOULD that the marine biologists working on eradicating Sargassum, an invasive brown weed, at Lough Hyne in west Cork, found a way to eliminate the green weed plaguing shallow bays all over Ireland.

MORE than two thirds of 8-month-old babies eat too much salt because they are fed a diet of processed food, a study has revealed.

SNOW and freezing temperatures continued to cause holiday travel chaos for road, rail and air passengers throughout much of Europe yesterday, raising fears that many will not get home in time for Christmas.

A woman has reclaimed the skeleton of a distant relative after she found it was being held in a university display case, 189 years after being executed.

IN his column (Examiner County, April 20), Peter Levy wrote about the restriction that the ESB’s cross river pylons were having on the Tall Ships entering Cork’s upper harbour and how this was impacting on the possibility of the Tall Ships race returning to Cork.

A group of virtual unknowns championed on Twitter by Stephen Fry will battle it out with chart star Lily Allen for a top UK songwriting award, it was announced today.

Teenage girls dieting to reach “size zero” may be putting their bones at risk, research revealed today.

SOFTWARE that records shoppers’ eye movements to log what interests them as they browse the shelves may soon transform the consumer world, scientists said yesterday.

MOTHERS who are pregnant in the summer have taller, stronger-boned babies because they benefit from the sun’s vitamin-boosting rays, a childhood study has revealed.

Mothers who are pregnant in the summer have taller, stronger-boned babies because they benefit from the sun’s vitamin-boosting rays, a childhood study revealed today.

A pint of plain is your only man and a pint or two in a man can alter his perception of plain.

SCIENTISTS have been awarded an £850,000 (€1m) grant to come up with a plan to stop hens pecking each other.

FOSSILS unearthed in Africa have been identified as two new species of carnivorous dinosaur, a British university announced yesterday.

IRISH child protection workers must get out of the office and into children’s homes if they are really to protect children from neglect and abuse, a leading social worker has said.

THE skull of a crocodile last seen roaming the earth alongside dinosaurs was unearthed by a fossil-hunter along the British coastline.

A BRITISH-based professor of social work has been appointed to determine if the Health Service Executive (HSE) failed in its duty of care to a teenager who died after inhaling aerosols.

Francesca Cumani and her father Luca teamed up to good effect once again as Soulacroix lifted the Queen Mother’s Cup at York.

RETIRED English teacher Gerard Hendra had just turned 65 and was looking forward to life as a pensioner when he was killed by Papazian.

PAT HUGHES, who hadn't visited the winner's enclosure since early November, broke his duck in dramatic style when 20-1 shot Point Barrow landed the biggest prize in National Hunt racing in Ireland, the Powers' Whiskey Grand National at Fairyhouse yesterday.

A senior member of the Democratic Unionists today denounced the appointment of former Assembly member Monica McWilliams as the chief human rights commissioner in Northern Ireland as crass.

A STUDY that found a strong link between household chemicals and the huge rise in childhood asthma has been welcomed by the Irish Asthma Society.

BABIES born into larger families are more likely to struggle to put on weight during the first nine months of their lives, researchers said yesterday.

Short women are more likely to develop heart disease than their leggier sisters, new research claims today.

CHILDREN who have contact with their fathers following a family break-up suffer fewer behavioural problems, academics said yesterday.

HEART attacks and strokes kill twice as many woman than all cancers combined, a medical expert warned yesterday.

LEADING Irish amateur Davy Russell put the seal on his appointment as first jockey to the powerful Ferdy Murphy stable when gaining his first success for the West Witton trainer on Inn Antique at Sedgefield yesterday.

TAKING the Pill for years could increase a woman’s fertility and not reduce it as was suspected, a new study has found.

AUTISTIC children who took part in a project to improve learning skills were ready for mainstream school on completion of the programme, according to its overseers.

Ed Morrison will referee his last major match at Twickenham when he takes charge of the Tetley's Bitter Cup final.