Retirement

Hong Kong’s top court has ruled that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards. The decision is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the transgender community. Two transgender men appealed to the court last month over the government’s refusal to change the genders on their ID cards because of their decision not to have full sex reassignment surgeries. The court ruled that the government's policy was “disproportionate” in its encroachment on the rights of the two and was unconstitutional.

A new study hints that treating low vitamin D levels with supplements might have a critical benefit for certain people: a decreased risk of attempting suicide. Get that and more health news here.

Officials say a polar bear that killed a young mother and her baby Jan. 17 in western Alaska was likely an older animal in poor physical condition. However tests have come back negative for pathogens that affect the brain and cause aggressive behavior. A state wildlife veterinarian collected and examined samples from the bear’s head a day after it was killed. The results of analysis indicate it was an adult male and in poor health. Standard tests conducted on tissues are negative for rabies, toxoplasmosis, distemper and avian influenza. State and federal wildlife officials say there is no definitive explanation as to why the bear was in poor condition.