0303 - Keeping cold could keep you thinner

Scientists at the University of California discovered that staying in the cold could help us lose weight. Exposure to the cold increases levels of a protein that helps make brown fat, which burns energy and keeps us warm. It also helps us lose weight. White fat stores excess energy and so we gain weight. The researchers said that because of air conditioning and heating, we stay warm. This means our body does not need so much brown fat. They said that workers who work outside in cold temperatures, "have a significant amount of brown fat when compared to same-aged indoor workers".

The research was on two different groups of mice. One group was injected with the brown-fat protein. This group gained 30 per cent less weight after both groups had high-fat diets. The researchers say this could help in the fight against obesity. Obese people have lower levels of brown fat than thinner people. Head researcher Hei Sook Sul said: "This protein could become an important target for research into the treatment and prevention of obesity." She said that increasing the levels of this protein could lead to weight loss even if people eat the same amount of food.

0302 - Record number of flowers bloom

 Scientists are amazed at how many flowers there are in the U.K. this winter. In normal years, between 20 and 30 types of flowers and plants are open. On New Year's Day, scientists found 368 different flowers in bloom. Some are five months early. Scientists say this record number is because of climate change. Last year was the warmest year ever in Britain. A scientist told the BBC he was surprised at the number of flowers. He said: "Fifty years ago, people looking for plants in flower at the start of the year found 20 species. This year the total has amazed us."

The scientist said warmer weather and mild winters were changing when flowers open. He said: "We are now in our fourth mild winter….We thought that the snow and hard frosts before Christmas would have finished most flowering…but it seems not to be the case." The most common flowers to open were daisies and dandelions. Britain's weather agency described the change in climate for last year. It said: "All months except August were warmer than average, and this was the warmest year on record for the UK. It was also wetter than average for many locations."

0211 - Unemployed young people very stressed

 A new survey from Britain shows that a third of young, unemployed people regularly "fall apart" emotionally. They are so stressed or unhappy that they cannot control their emotions, so they have problems living a "normal" life. The survey is from a youth charity called the Prince's Trust. Its researchers asked questions to 2,200 people who did not have a job. Almost half of them said they often felt anxious about everyday situations, and that they tried not to meet new people. One in eight of those surveyed said they were too stressed to leave the house. The charity said: "Thousands of young people feel like prisoners in their own homes. Without the right support, these young people become socially isolated."

Many of these young people struggle with day-to-day life, which means they find it more and more difficult to find a job. Britain's Employment Minister Esther McVey said: "Our young people are some of the best and most talented in the world." She said it was important to try and match these people with the right jobs. Researcher David Fass added: "Young people are our future and it is important that we invest in them and provide them with the tools they need to reach their full potential." Jack, 25, explained how hard it was for him to be unemployed. He said: "I would wake up and wouldn't want to leave the house. I stopped speaking to my friends and I had absolutely no confidence speaking to people."

0210 - University students take 'impossible' exam

Final-year students at a university in England are angry after they took an economics exam. Students from the University of Sheffield have signed a petition to say the exam questions were 'impossible' to answer. Nearly all of the 100 students who took the exam complained and signed the online petition. They want the university to look into this. The students say the exam contained questions on topics that were not in their course. They also say the questions included a lot of difficult maths that they had not been taught. One student said a lecturer told them they would only need 'simple' maths. They are now worried that they will get low test scores, and that this will affect what kind of degree they get.

The head of the economics department, professor Andy Dickerson, told the BBC that the exam was fair. He said not all the questions needed maths. He said the level of maths in the exams was the same as the level taught to students on the course. Professor Dickerson also said all the exam questions were on topics the students had studied. He said: "All questions were based on topics taught in the course and for which further reading was provided." He added that one question in the exam used a term that students may not have seen before. He said this was no problem because the question explained the meaning of the term. The university said it would look carefully at the results.

0209 - Britain says yes to 3-parent babies

Lawmakers in the U.K. have voted to allow doctors to create babies from the DNA of three different people. It will be the first country in the world to do this. There was a vote in Britain's parliament, where 382 lawmakers voted for allowing three-person babies and 128 voted against the idea. The idea behind three-person babies is to stop diseases being passed from a mother to her newborn baby. Doctors say that as many as 150 babies a year could be born using the new technique. The first baby to be born using the DNA from three people could be as early as next year. The technique will help families with mitochondrial diseases. These are incurable and affect about one in 6,500 children worldwide.

The technique is quite simple. It combines the DNA of the two parents with the DNA of another woman. Doctors replace the unhealthy, disease-carrying DNA in the mother's egg with healthy DNA from the donor. The result is that the baby receives about 0.1 per cent of its DNA from the donor woman. Lawmakers said the technique was "light at the end of a dark tunnel" for many families. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We're not playing God here. We're just making sure that two parents who want a healthy baby can have one." Critics say the technique could be dangerous. They say it would open the door to the genetic modification of children and "designer babies" in the future.

0206 - Hospital chains toys to beds to stop thieves

Fourteen hospitals in Wales have started chaining children's toys and other playthings to beds in an attempt to prevent thieves from stealing them. The Royal Gwent Hospital is using bicycle locks to keep its toys from being stolen. Dean Beddis, father of a two-year-old who was a patient in the children's ward, said he was appalled that anyone would steal toys from a hospital. He told reporters: "These toys are there for kids who are seriously ill. They're provided by the hospital and people are stealing them. I was shocked to see that a children's toy had a bike lock on it." He added: "I was talking to the nurses about how disgusting it was that they had to do that because they were saying that people had been stealing them."

A hospital spokesman said: "Unfortunately we do get toys and games taken from our hospitals. It is not a regular occurrence but we do encourage staff to secure and lock away the more popular and more expensive items. Our hospitals have CCTV coverage and security on site at all times." He added: "As with any large buildings open to the public, we advise visitors and our own staff to be vigilant with valuables." It is not only toys that are being stolen. The television in the waiting room of the children's ward has also gone missing. Mr Beddis said: "Stealing toys while the hospital staff are looking after their children is a sad reflection on society. I cannot believe this is happening in Britain."

0205 - 90-year-old starts elementary school

A 90-year-old Kenyan grandmother has become the world's oldest elementary school student. Priscilla Sitienei, also known as Gogo, is from a small village in Kenya. She is studying at the local elementary school to learn to read and write. Ms Sitienei has spent most of her life working as a midwife, helping to deliver babies. She wants to be able to read and write so she can pass on her midwifery skills and write down the special herbal remedies she uses when she delivers babies. She also wants to be able to read the Bible. Sitienei said she never had a chance to go to school when she was younger. She said she knows she is old but hopes she will set an example to younger people. She wants all the children in her village to study.

When Ms Sitienei first tried to enroll at the school, the head teacher David Kinyanjui did not think it was a good idea. Now he is very happy that Gogo is at the school. Mr Kinyanjui said Gogo is a "blessing and a motivator". He added: "I'm very proud of her. She is loved by every pupil. They all want to learn and play with her." He also said: "She is doing well considering her age. I can say I have seen a big difference in this school since she came." Gogo had a message for children everywhere, saying: "I want to say to the children of the world, especially girls, that education will be your wealth." She added: "With education, you can be whatever you want - a doctor, lawyer or a pilot."

0204 - Man sues women's university

A man has filed a lawsuit against an all-women's university in Japan after they rejected his application to join the university because he is male. The unnamed man claims Fukuoka Women's University is discriminating against him based on his gender. He also claims the university's policy of admitting female-only students is unconstitutional. The Japanese constitution states that all citizens have an equal right to education. He wants the university to accept his application to study and pay him 660,000 yen in damages for the anguish caused by the rejection. It is the first time in Japan that someone is suing a national or public women's university over its constitutionality.

The man believes he has a good case. He said the women's university was one of his only options to pursue a career as a dietician. He said: "If my application is rejected, the path to become a dietitian would be narrow as I will be forced to go to a university [far away]." The man's lawyer said women-only universities are anachronistic in today's world. He said: "In the past, women's universities had the role of giving preferential treatment to women who had fewer opportunities for education, but that role is no longer necessary." A university official said: "We have a 91-year history of promoting women's education. We are determined to continue to provide education to prepare women for leadership roles."

0203 - Tech giants woo 15-year-old whizzkid

Tech giants Facebook and Google are in competition to attract the talents of a 15-year-old app developer. Australian teenager Ben Pasternak sparked the interest of the companies after he designed an app for a game called Impossible Rush. The app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since its launch in October. The addictive game managed to climb higher than Vine and Twitter on the App Store charts. Pasternak has been invited by Facebook's internship department for a tour of the company's headquarters in California. He is also being wooed by Google, whose vice president has asked him to come to visit its campus. Both companies hope Ben could be one of their future developers.

Mr Pasternak is one of 450 high-school-aged entrepreneurs accepted on a Google and MIT sponsored event called Hack Generation Y. The high-schoolers have been invited from ten countries across the world. They will collaborate on a 36-hour project to create a sellable product. They will also listen to featured speakers from the technology and hacking world. Michael Matias, the organiser of the event, said: "Pasternak is a young entrepreneur and clearly ambitious. He has shown the world that age is just a number." He added that: "[Pasternak's] iPhone app was extremely impressive and if we were to guess, we would never imagine it was run by a 15-year-old."

0202 - Workaholic fathers 'leave orphans'

The head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis has issued a stern warning to fathers who work long hours. He criticised workaholic dads for being 'symbolically absent' from their families, and of effectively making their children 'orphans'. The Pope was speaking to a congregation at the Vatican on Wednesday when he made his plea for fathers to spend more time with their children and get more involved in family life. He told worshippers that the absence of fathers in the family is one of the reasons that children experience problems growing up. He said fathers who focused too much on their jobs was one of the causes of "deviances of children and adolescents".

Pope Francis said this problem of fathers being obsessed with their jobs and not spending quality time with their family was particularly prevalent in Europe and North America. He said: "Fathers are so focused on themselves, on their work, and at times their personal fulfillment, that they even forget their families, leaving children and the young to their own devices." He added: "The feeling of orphanhood experienced by many young people is more profound than we might think. They are orphans in their families because their fathers are often absent from the home, but also, and above all, because when they are present, they do not act like fathers." He warned that fatherless families are being accepted as the norm.