Britney to Release New Album on Her Birthday

Britney Spears has arranged a wonderful birthday present for herself: her sixth studio album, Circus, due for release Dec. 2 – the day she turns 27, her label announced Monday.

Coming so soon after her triple victory – for video of the year, best female video and best pop video for "Piece of Me" – at MTV's Video Music Awards on Sept. 7, Circus follows up her well-received 2007 album Blackout and continues the upward spiral the sometimes-troubled pop star has been experiencing.

The Outsyders, described by Spears's label, Jive records, as an up-and-coming Atlanta production team, have produced the first single from the album, "Womanizer," which will drop Sept. 22.

Other producers and writers with a hand in the album, according to Jive, include Dr. Luke (writer-producer of the title track, "Circus"), Danja, Max Martin, Bloodshy & Avant and Guy Sigsworth – who's collaborated with such other artists as Madonna, Alanis Morissette and Bjork.

Overtakes Paris's Record

In all, Spears has sold more than 62 million albums internationally, including 1999's Baby One More Time, 2000's Oops! … I Did It Again, 2001' Britney, 2003's In The Zone and the previously mentioned Blackout. Her sales records include eight No. 1 worldwide singles and four consecutive No. 1 albums.

Also on Monday, Guinness World Records revealed another accolade for Spears: she has replaced Paris Hilton as the Most Searched Person on the Internet in 2007.

Guinness Book of Records: World's Longest Legs, Meet World's Shortest

Talk about having the world at your feet: Svetlana Pankratova has longest legs on record, nearly 52 inches, according to those who know – the people at Guinness World Records.

To celebrate Pankratova's feat – and the publication of the 2009 record book – she was joined in London's Trafalgar Square by another of the volume's entries: He Pingping, from China, and, at 2 ft. 5 in., officially the smallest man in the world. >source:http://www.people.com

Bisphenol A linked to disease in humans

More studies of the controversial chemical are on the way.

High levels of bisphenol A (BPA) — a chemical used in some containers for food and drink — may be associated with an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in humans, a new study has found.

The study, published this week by the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first large-scale investigation of the controversial chemical's effect on human disease. It is a welcome addition to the body of BPA research, the vast majority of which has been conducted in animals.

But the results do not establish a causal link between BPA and disease, and the study design does not allow researchers to determine which came first: higher exposure to BPA or illness. "I think our study definitely puts a scientific question mark over this compound," says epidemiologist David Melzer of the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, UK, who led the research. "Still, this is the first study. It has to be repeated.">source:http://www.nature.com