For parents concerned about their overweight teens, new research suggests the best tactic might be to just relax and cook a healthy Sunday dinner.

  New images of a giant planet's satellites taken by the 10-year Cassini probe have excited scientists

  Doing the test is easy - you just swab the inside of your dog's cheek with a special brush the company sends, mail it back and wait for the results. When the envelope arrived about five weeks later, I tore it open, eager to at last know the truth. Would he be a Lab? A Newfoundland? A border collie mix? A pug? And the envelope said .... The company really has no clue. Sherman appears to have stumped even science.

  Many of you have heard of the Doomsday Clock. The proximity of the minute hand to midnight has been the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' way of predicting the potential of nuclear war at first, and now doomsday for the human race in general terms. DogsinDanger.com has a similar idea, and hopes to promote adoption of shelter dogs.

  Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of a large group of patients with multiple sclerosis has provided the first evidence that those with a history of MS in their families show more severe brain damage than patients who have no close relatives with the disease.

  You may not be fully dressed without a smile, but a look of horror will make a faster first impression.

  Outer space is a cold and sterile place, but spaceships are not. As the 9-year-old space station ages, it's likely to grow more micro-organisms that could pose a risk to its human residents and the station itself. Adding an extra worry, scientists have seen signs that the human immune system weakens during space trips.

  This week, according to reports around the Web, some users woke up to rebooted Vista machines. One thing about Vista is that when you update it, it'll tell you with a message in the system tray after logging in ... and that's what happened in these reported cases. The machines, which had been set to either not install update or get permission before installing therefore had their machines patched and rebooted. Additionally, forum reports indicated that some machines had their update settings modified to Auto Update.

  The Dutch Consumers' Union (Consumentenbond) and Microsoft Netherlands met on Thursday to discuss Windows Vista. Consumentenbond asked for free copies of Windows XP for members who were having problems with Vista. Microsoft, unsurprisingly, refused (can you imagine anyone in the U.S. asking Microsoft that?).

  Adolescence is hell, as any 13-year-old or any parent of a 13-year-old will be happy to tell you. Most adults also remember their teen years with a shudder. Given access to the Fountain of Youth, no one would drink that far back.