Discovered: Cat ladies beware, the types of moms that make their kids fat, more good malaria news, and even little oil spills are horrible for animals.

• The cat lady lifestyle has some real health risks. If the stigma against turning into a cat lady (or gentleman) wasn't enough of a deterrent against hoarding tabbies, research now finds that there are actual medical reasons not to turn into a feline-obsessed recluse. Getting a cat in adulthood doubles a person's chances of developing animal-related allergies, according to research reported in the The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. It's not all bad news for cat lovers. Children who grow up with cats as pets have a much lower risk of developing sensitivity as adults. And, we also heard that if one has talented cats that do adorable things, it's worth a runny nose, itchy-eyes, and social stigmatization. We hear. [MSNBC]

• When moms make their kids fat. Children whose mothers neglect them are at higher risk of obesity, say researchers out of Ohio State. That makes sense to us, since overbearing mothers who use passive aggression as a dieting tactic often breed anorexic children. The point is, it's all about relationships. Rather than focus on dieting and exercise to fix obesity, this research suggests that mending these broken relationships will have a better impact on kids' health. "It is possible that childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children's food intake and activity," said researcher Sarah Anderson. [Eureka]

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.