Alaska infants are twice as likely to be born with major birth defects as infants in the U.S. as a whole, according to a new study by the state Department of Health and Social Services — and officials are at a loss to explain why.

Rates were especially high among Alaska Natives, but all races of Alaskans exceed national rates for "major congenital anomalies," according to the review of seven years of data (from 1996 through 2002) drawn from the Alaska Birth Defect Registry.

Birth defects were reported in 10.5 percent of all live births among Alaska Natives, compared to 6 percent for all Alaskans and 4 percent for white Alaskans. Among all Americans, the rate was 3 percent. » read more

As soon as Illinois-born neurobiologist Richard Mooney opens his mouth, North Carolina residents know he's not from around here.

But humans aren't the only creatures whose regional drawls and twangs give them away. The same thing goes for the songbirds Mooney studies in his Duke University laboratory.

"If you drive around the U.S., you'll hear the same species of songbirds," said Mooney, who has developed a unique way to study how birds learn, and published his results this year in the journal Nature. "But if you listen closely, the songs sung by a swamp sparrow from a population in New York sound different from a swamp sparrow in Pennsylvania. ... It could be likened to a dialect, or an accent." » read more