No Neigh-Sayers: Live Horses Join First-Day Veterinary Students for Anatomy Lecture in Hungary 

Dr. Péter Sótonyi, rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Hungary, shows the tongue of a horse during an anatomy lecture for first-year students, using a live horse, Monday, Sept 9. 2024. (AP)
Dr. Péter Sótonyi, rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Hungary, shows the tongue of a horse during an anatomy lecture for first-year students, using a live horse, Monday, Sept 9. 2024. (AP)
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No Neigh-Sayers: Live Horses Join First-Day Veterinary Students for Anatomy Lecture in Hungary 

Dr. Péter Sótonyi, rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Hungary, shows the tongue of a horse during an anatomy lecture for first-year students, using a live horse, Monday, Sept 9. 2024. (AP)
Dr. Péter Sótonyi, rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Hungary, shows the tongue of a horse during an anatomy lecture for first-year students, using a live horse, Monday, Sept 9. 2024. (AP)

A lecture hall full of first-year veterinary students in Hungary eagerly took their places for the first animal anatomy lesson of their academic careers, when two full-grown horses clopped inside and joined the class.

The rector at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Dr. Péter Sótonyi, coaxed one of the animals onto a riser at the front of the hall and used a stick of chalk to draw onto the horse — from head to hooves — where its bones, organs and muscles could be found inside.

"This is their very first lesson, and the first time should be with a living animal," Sótonyi said of his students. "They shouldn’t first meet with a carcass, because they want to heal animals. They want to make animals better."

Sótonyi has used this unique method for introducing students to animal anatomy for around 25 years, and is convinced it helps them engage more directly with the subject matter than studying solely through books, charts and models.

Horses, he said, which are "particularly intelligent and honorable animals," are especially suited to the task.

"It’s a big animal and a lot can be demonstrated on it, and people are so amazed that the horse comes into the classroom and climbs up on the podium. This immediately gives the students a lot of motivation," he said.

The horses, provided to the university each year by the Budapest Police, stood calmly throughout the lecture, encouraged by occasional treats of sugar cubes.

In addition to marking the animal's body with chalk and colorful oil pencils, Sótonyi held up pieces from a model horse skeleton to their corresponding locations to provide a clearer visual representation of the horse's anatomy.

About halfway through the hourlong lesson, Sótonyi demonstrated the oral structure of one of the animals, reaching his hand inside its mouth to grasp its long tongue — and getting a gentle nip from the horse in return.

"What's wrong with you today?" he asked the horse to laughter from the students, many of whom stood up for a better view and snapped pictures with their phones.

Following the lecture, there were no long faces or neigh-sayers, but a room of excited future veterinarians. Noémi Tamaska, 19, said that she thought the lecture with live horses was useful for future retention of the information.

"It meant a lot to me that we could see on a living animal how a skeletal system is built," she said. "I think it’s easier to imagine, especially for visually-oriented people."



Mexico Bans Junk Food Sales in Schools in Latest Salvo Against Child Obesity

A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
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Mexico Bans Junk Food Sales in Schools in Latest Salvo Against Child Obesity

A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A government-sponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect on Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics.
The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that have become a staple for generations of Mexican schoolchildren, such as sugary fruit drinks, packaged chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, chili-flavored peanuts, The Associated Press reported.
Announcing that the ban had become law, Mexico's Education Ministry posted on X: “Farewell, junk food!” It encouraged parents to support the government's crusade by cooking healthy meals for their kids.
“One of the core principles of the new Mexican school system is healthy living," said Mario Delgado, the public health secretary. “There's a high level of acceptance of this policy among parents.”
Mexico's ambitious attempt to remake its food culture and reprogram the next generation of consumers is being watched closely around the world as governments struggle to turn the tide on a global obesity epidemic.
In the United States, for instance, the Trump administration’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has vowed to upend the nation's food system and “ Make America Healthy Again " by targeting ultra-processed foods to curb surging obesity and disease.
Under Mexico's new order, schools must phase out any food and beverage displaying even one black warning logo marking it as high in salt, sugar, calories and fat. Mexico implemented that compulsory front-of-package labeling system in 2020.
Enforced from Monday morning, the start of the school week, the junk food ban also requires schools to serve more nutritious alternatives to junk food, like bean tacos, and offer plain drinking water.
“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has championed the ban.
Mexico’s children consume more junk food than anywhere else in Latin America, according to UNICEF, which classifies the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic as an emergency. Sugary drinks and highly processed foods account for 40% of the total calories that children consume in a day, the agency reports.
“At my daughter's school, they told us that future activities wouldn't have candy, it would be completely different, with fruit, vegetables and other food that's healthy for kids,” said Aurora Martínez, a mother of two. “It will help us a lot.”
One-third of Mexican children are already considered overweight or obese, according to government statistics.
School administrators found in violation of the order face stiff fines, ranging from $545 to $5,450.
But enforcement poses a challenge in a country where previous junk food bans have struggled to gain traction and monitoring has been lax across Mexico’s 255,000 schools, many of which lack water fountains — even reliable internet and electricity.
It also wasn't immediately clear how the government would forbid the sale of junk food on sidewalks outside school campuses, where street vendors typically hawk candy, chips, nachos and ice cream to kids during recess and after the school day ends.
“It will be difficult,” said Abril Geraldine Rose de León, a child therapist. “But it will be achieved in the long run.”