Today's Superheroes: Really Bad Role Models

Summer's been hijacked by the spandex crowd, complains one curmudgeon

(NEWSER) - Once upon a time, summer movies appealed to everyone, not just 14-year-old nerds. They especially appealed to Chris Nashawaty, who outlines his love of big dumb action flicks in Entertainment Weekly. But now, our summers have been hijacked by an endless stream of lousy spandex-wearers, and Nashawaty is willing to be the lone curmudgeon taking the stand against them. More»

Yale professor warns against becoming a 'click-vegetable'

(NEWSER) - The Internet and iPads and smartphones are great for adults—but we need to take a hard look at what they're doing to our kids, warns a computer science professor at Yale. It may be tempting to let them sit down with an iPad come June, but such technology is preventing their minds from doing what they need to do: "rest and work," writes David Gelernter in the Wall Street Journal . Rest means "wandering freely," while work requires a climb up a "mental rope." More»

Joss Whedon directs Robert Downey Jr. in superhero blowout

(NEWSER) - Sure, it's an effective moneymaking scheme: release movies about individual superheroes, then one about all of them. But with Joss Whedon at the helm, The Avengers really works. What critics are saying:

• "Even if you don't particularly like comic-book adaptations, this film just might make a believer of you," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times . "Whedon is the key reason why this $220 million behemoth of a movie is smartly thought out and executed with verve and precision."

Adorable 'facial cues' fade at that age: researchers

(NEWSER) - No one's saying that 5-year-olds can't be adorable—but it appears that they're past their prime, in cuteness terms. Researchers in Canada and China polled adults on the cuteness factor of kids from infancy to 6 years old. Subjects called the younger children cuter, with a big shift at age 4½. At that point, key "facial cues" like big eyes and heads combined with small noses and mouths become less apparent, Time reports. More»

Bodies found at campground, handgun nearby

(NEWSER) - A mother and her three young daughters were found shot to death near a Missouri campground in what police believe was a triple murder-suicide. Each was killed by a single gunshot, and the weapon was found near the bodies, according to police. The four were not staying at the Bourbon campground, but the mother's vehicle was found nearby. They were identified as 37-year-old Christine Adewunmi, and daughters Lauren, 8, Samantha, 6, and Kate, 3. Christine's husband and the father of the girls reported them missing last week, according to KMOX-TV . "There was no indication of any problems," a neighbor told Fox2. More»