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Best 1-Bowl Holiday Cookie Recipes

by Gail Belsky

There's the warm and fuzzy image of holiday baking with your kids, and then there's reality: smeared hands, gloppy spills and flour everywhere. You can't escape the mess altogether, but these one-bowl cookie recipes will help you minimize it -- while maximizing the fun. They're quick, easy and virtually stress-free. Try them:

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Sniffle-proof your whole family

This isn't just the start of holiday season; it's germ season as well. That's why many of us will be hacking away and looking a lot like Rudolph before winter is over. "The average adult gets one to three respiratory illnesses each year, and women, especially if they're moms, tend to catch even more," says Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona and coauthor of The Germ Freak's Guide to Outwitting Colds and Flu.

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Crowdfunding a Genome Sequencing Project

World's first crowdfunded genome sequencing project uncovers 4-year-old's unknown genetic disease


Rare Genomics Institute, Ivy League medical research center identify novel gene variant


St. Louis, MO - The Rare Genomics Institute (RGI), a non-profit organization that uses genome sequencing and other biotechnology to help children with rare genetic diseases, and an Ivy League medical research center have jointly identified a new gene variant in four-year-old Maya Nieder that may indicate a brand-new disease.

This finding marks the first time that a patient-initiated, crowdfunded genome initiative project has uncovered the genetic basis of a rare disease.

Suffering from global developmental delays, Maya has undergone multiple operations, is unable to speak, and has difficulty hearing. Despite visiting countless physicians, her condition had remained unexplained for years. Doctors agreed that "something genetic" was responsible for her condition, yet six genetic tests - each screening for a myriad of known genetic defects - yielded no definitive explanation.

"When you've been looking for the answer for three and a half years, you don't really expect one anymore," said Maya's mother, Dana Nieder, who began working with RGI in the spring of 2011.

By turning to the Internet to raise funds from a large base of donors, RGI is pioneering a funding model for rare disease research. In an overwhelming response, donors across the United States contributed more than $3,500 to the research project for Maya Niede ...Read more