In Brief

KID-SAFE PESTICIDES Sometimes it's hard to tell what's worse: mosquitoes, which can carry disease, or DEET-based insect repellents, which can be toxic to children. Capitalizing on the growing interest in DEET-free alternatives, Biorganic Safety Brands has developed a line of ShooBug Repellents that it claims are safe for use around kids and pets. Using extracts of tree and plant oils--most notably cloves--the new products block a neurotransmitter receptor in bugs that doesn't exist in humans.

DANGEROUS OVERTIME When a woman works overtime, guess who suffers. That's right, the husband. Researchers at the University of Chicago report that when married women work more than 40 hours a week, their husbands' health deteriorates--by 25% over three years, judged by a variety of health indicators. Surprisingly, the amount of overtime a man works seems to have no effect on his wife's health. The study's authors suggest that men tend not to pay attention to their health, relying on their spouse to do it for them. If the wife is spending more time in the office, she isn't around to catch the warning signs of poor health.

BABIES AT RISK Could cleft palate and spina bifida be the result of stress during pregnancy? That's the implication of a study of more than 20,000 Danish women. The researchers found that pregnant women struggling with emotionally wrenching life changes--a death in the immediate family, say, or a partner suffering a heart attack--had a higher incidence of congenital problems than women with relatively stress-free pregnancies. Two stressful pregnancies in a row doubled the chances of having a child with congenital problems.