Have you ever heard a baby cry with a German accent?

You can -- if you listen hard enough, said Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzberg in Germany to the BBC. She led a research project which concluded that infants pick up the nuances of their mothers' accents, even while in the womb.

Researchers studied the cries of 60 healthy babies born to families speaking German and French. Wermke told the BBC that they could detect the French babies crying with a rising accent while German babies cried with a falling accent.

Wermke added that the research, which was published in the journal Current Biology, is more than just a slightly interesting curiosity. It suggests that human beings are influenced by the first sounds that penetrate the womb. Scientists already knew that unborn children could memorize sounds from the outside world in the last trimester of pregnancy, especially music and voices.

He grew up entertaining the children who tromped into an Iowa library for story hour, so it was only a matter of time before this furry friend, aptly named Dewey Readmore Books, starred in his own children's books.

In fact "Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library" is the follow up to Vicki Myron's best-selling memoir "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World," which is set to be made into a movie by New Line Cinema. Meryl Streep has signed on to play Myron, but the former librarian, who discovered Dewey as a kitten abandoned in the Spencer, Iowa library drop box on a chilly winter morning in the 1980s, isn't done telling this feline's tale.

Kids are more stressed out than they were last year, and they take their cues from their parents. Credit: BrittneyBush, Flickr

Kids are more stressed out than ever, and their worries include family financial troubles, body image issues and getting into a good college or university.

The 2009 Stress in America survey, administered by the American Psychological Association, is the first to ask children about their stress levels, according to U.S. News & World Report. The results are startling: One third of the 1,206 children ages 8 to 17 surveyed admitted that they are more stressed out than they were just one year ago.

How can you be sure that your child is safe on the Internet? It can be easy if you set the following Internet safety guidelines with your kids.

Among our top ways to stay safe. Remind your kids to:

1. Be careful with strangers on the Internet. Never give out personal information, including your last name, address, phone number or password. If someone asks for any of this information, kids should not respond; they should log off and tell a trusted adult.

2. Never agree to meet anyone without you, the parents, in tow.

3. A child should tell her parents immediately if she ever feel uncomfortable in a chat room or other online situation.

4. Stick with "kid-friendly" websites.

As adults, parents can use software, like My Kids Browser, to insure your child will not be able to access any adult-only websites.

ParentDish has complete, up-to-date information on the latest Gadgets & Tech.

Pikachu is a central character in the Pokemon series. One of the Pokemon franchise's most recognizable characters, Pickachu is often considered the franchise's mascot.

A Pikachu is a short, chubby, forest-dwelling rodent that has yellow fur with brown stripes on its back and a lightening-bolt shaped tail. Pikachus can release electrical discharges at will through electric sacs in their cheeks. If a Pikachu is unable to discharge this electricity, it can result in paralysis or even death in severe cases.

Although Pikachus usually discharge electricity for battle purposes, they can also roast berries, a dietary staple. Pickachus usually travel in packs. When threatened, they can generate an intense electric field that can result in a thunderstorm. Despite their electrical powers, Pickachu are great virtual pets that are easy to maintain in Pokemon.

The Pokemon franchise includes video games, anime, trading cards and books.

Check out ParentDish's coverage of Toys and Games for more kid favorites.

A normal pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks. If a baby is born three or more weeks early, she is considered premature. Babies born close to 37 weeks usually do not have many problems, but babies born between 32 and 37 weeks may need to stay in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to receive help eating, breathing, staying warm, and continuing to develop before going home. Babies born before 32 weeks are the most likely to have serious problems and may have to stay in the NICU for an extended period of time.

Preterm babies must often be tube-fed or even fed intravenously (through a vein) because they cannot eat on their own. Others need ventilators to help them breathe. Premature babies also can have difficulties staying warm, so they are kept in heated beds called isolettes.

A neonatologist is a doctor who specializes caring for preterm babies. If the hospital you choose to deliver your baby at has a NICU on-site, you will be introduced to the staff neonatologist. If your baby needs to be moved to another hospital, you can ask your ob/gyn for a reference or you can find a doctor on the Revolution Health web site.

Check out ParentDish to learn about amazing premature babies and Pregnancy & Birth.

G.I. Joe's appearance marked the debut of the action figure. Hasbro introduced the military-themed dolls in 1964. The original figures were realistic 12-inch toy soldiers that represented the four branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The Action Soldier (Army), Action Sailor (Navy), Action Pilot (Air Force) and Action Marine (Marines) rounded out the first dolls. In 1982, the line was re-launched with the "A Real American Hero" tagline and three and three-fourths-inch sized dolls, playsets, vehicles and an animated TV show.

In 1991, Hasbro began re-releasing the 12-inch dolls and launched the first G.I. Jane dolls. The female dolls and the oldest G.I. Joe dolls are highly sought collectors' items. In 2000, Hasbro returned to the smaller-sized figures which are still in stores.

The 2009 film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" have helped the toys retain their popularity today.

Check out other ParentDish doll histories:
Barbie
Raggedy Ann
American Girl Dolls

If your child loves shows like "Super Why!" and "WordWorld" from the PBS Kids TV line-up, he or she will love to play games with these characters on the PBS Kids web site.

PBS Kids was founded in 1993 by the Public Broadcasting Service as the brand for their non-commercial children's programming. Dedicated to education and the promotion of positive role models for kids, the site advocates strong educational values. PBS Kids offers free online computer games associated with the channel's programs to help children feel more familiar with the shows' characters.

Games on the PBS Kids games site include Oscar's Trash Collection, a sorting game from "Sesame Street", Super Why's Reading Power Bingo, Maze Mania from "WordGirl," Build Your Own Treehouse from "It's a Big, Big World" and many others.

Check out more other ways to keep your kids busy for hours at ParentDish's That's Entertainment.

Brendan Adams' mother didn't want him to play middle school football. She was afraid he might get hurt.

Wait a minute. Brendan is almost 7-feet-5-inches tall -- the tallest teenager on the planet, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. And she's worried about him getting hurt?

The sad irony is it took a lot of work to get Brendan on the gridiron. His mother's concerns are more than justified. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Ellensburg, Wash., about 100 miles east of Seattle, has health problems as formidable as his height. His body is full of tumors. His joints are enlarged. And doctors recently discovered an arrhythmia in his heart.

In a heart-stopping split second, an Australian mother watches as her 6-month-old son rolls onto a train track and under an oncoming train -- and escapes with just a scratch.

It could happen to any parent -- you release the brake on the stroller to prepare to board the train, and it rolls away from you. For Shweta Verma, a 29-year-old mother and dentist who lives in Melbourne, it is a nightmare that keeps replaying in her head and on TV, thanks to a surveillance camera that captured the entire terrifying episode on film.

Verma told Today's Matt Lauer about the terrifying moment when her son, Saurish, rolled onto the tracks as a train sped through the station. The video shows her horror as she helplessly watches her baby disappears under it.

If your child has an artistic streak and a fabulous fashion sense, she may enjoy fashion designer games. There are many fun, free online fashion games that will give your budding designer the chance to practice her skills.

The website Dress Up Games contains many different games, such as Nikki's Fashion Show which lets your child dress Nikki the model in different outfits. Another website your designer might like is the Fashion Runway Game that lets your child create a runway look. GirlSense offers an online fashion community your child can join where she can design fashions, style a boutique, create a logo and advertise her creations. Another website, i-Dress-Up, gives your child the opportunity to select a model to her specifications and to dress her in a variety of clothes and accessories.

Check out more games at ParentDish's Toys and Games section.

The United Kingdom's national law enforcement agency for protecting children – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – has issued a video message aimed at finding anyone involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the little girl who went missing during a family vacation in Portugal two years ago.
Police ask that anyone with any information about Madeleine should contact local police.

Kids love searching for things, which is why it's great that there are many interesting and fun scavenger hunt ideas. An outdoor scavenger hunt is the perfect activity for a beautiful day. Examples of items to include in your outdoor hunt are a place to build a nest, a certain colored item, a flower or a street sign.

Another idea for a scavenger hunt is to give your kids a list of instructions to follow, such as "Start at the front door. Look under the chair by the window. Look behind the dictionary in the bookcase, etc." This can be an excellent way to spend a rainy or snowy day indoors.

If your family is taking a long car trip, why not have a scavenger hunt for items you pass on the road? You can ask your kids to find things like a yellow school bus, a Starbucks or license plates from different states.

Preschoolers can enjoy scavenger hunts if you create sets of picture cards -- one to show your child and one with a matching picture for you to hide. Some ideas for pictures include animals, household items, cars, flowers and clothes.

The Scavenger Hunt Guru has many more ideas for kids and adults who love these games.

Check out more of ParentDish's Toys and Games.

A study presented last week at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting showed kids who play video games for more than an hour a day increase their chances of having wrist and finger pain. Among kids ages 7-12 who play up to three hours per day, each hour of play time increased pain by 50 percent.

Four parents at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nev. are suing the school to stop students from performing "Rent" and "The Laramie Project." Both plays feature gay characters and the parents say that the subject matter is "not suitable for students."

On the surface the argument isn't a bad one. According to Courthouse News Service, "Parents Dalene Hicks, Jenny Calderon, James Perkins and Tiffany Turpin complain that Green Valley High School's plans to stage the shows violates the Clark County School District's policies that forbid 'R' rated material from being presented to students."