Washington, January 22 : American band `The Jonas Brothers' surprised Obama girls Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, with a surprise visit to the White House.

The little girls found Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas in front of them as they opened a door, after ending a scavenger hunt around their new home to learn its history.

The trio had performed their hit `Burning Up' for the girls at the Kids'' Inaugural Concert on Monday night.

Washington, January 22: Liquid medicines may harm tiny tots due to the presence of some non-drug ingredients in them, says an Indian-origin researcher.

Dr Hitesh Pandya, a senior lecturer at the University of Leicester, says that his study documents the chemicals present in such liquid medicines as are administered to premature infants as part of their medical care.

Published in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood, his study has revealed that the chemicals added to medicines to improve their taste and absorption and to prolong their shelf-life could be potentially harmful to very small babies.

The chemicals generally used are ethanol, sorbitol and Ponceaau 4R (a colouring agent).

Washington, January 22 : Just thinking about popular songs can evoke vivid memories of the past, if Kansas State University researchers are to be believed.

"We thought that actually hearing the song would bring back the most vivid memories," said Richard Harris, professor of psychology at K-State.

"But in our study there wasn''t a lot of difference in memory between those who heard the song and those who didn''t. What we determined was happening is that you already know the song and you''re hearing it in your mind," he added.

He said that the project he undertook with Elizabeth Cady, a 2006 K-State doctoral graduate in psychology, was one of the first times his research delved into the medium of music.

Syngene International, a unit of Indian biotechnology major BIOCON Group, has informed that it will offer fully integrated drug discovery services by partnering with Sapient Discovery, a US based Biotechnology Company.

Sapient Discovery uses integrated, proprietary computational and experimental laboratory technologies, and cellular biology and proprietary data mining to accelerate the drug discovery and optimization processes.

Washington  - The US Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, clearing the way for her to take the reins of US foreign policy as President Barack Obama moves quickly to address a host of international challenges.

Following the Senate's 94-2 vote, Clinton will now begin dealing with the pressing issues of the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She's due to arrive at the State Department Thursday morning, a spokesperson said.