AP - A woman's chance of having a child with autism increase substantially as she ages, but the risk may be less for older dads than previously suggested, a new study analyzing more than 5 million births found.

AP - A critical safety net for babies — that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn — is facing an ethics attack.

AP - The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.

AP - The discovery has punched a 170-ton hole in China's promises to overhaul its food safety system. Officials say they've found yet another case where large amounts of tainted milk powder from the country's 2008 scandal that should have been destroyed were instead repackaged.

AP - If the U.S. swine flu epidemic isn't over, it certainly looks as if it's on its last legs. While federal health officials are not ready to declare the threat has passed and the outbreak has run its course, they did report Friday that for the fourth week in a row, no states had widespread flu activity. U.S. cases have been declining since late October.

AFP - Experts and workers on the ground said Friday that men had a key role to play in the fight against female circumcision in Africa, a day before the International Day against Female Genital Mutilation.

AFP - A common antidepressant weakens or cancels the beneficial effects of a standard treatment for breast cancer, according to a study released Tuesday.