Scientists today claim to have discovered the first common gene that influences whether someone is tall or short.

It explains why John Cleese towers over a room, and why Ronnie Corbett can claim: "I'm so short I'm the only citizen in the UK to have a full-length photo in my passport."

Although it has long been known that big parents are more likely to have big children - and tiny children are often born of tiny couples - biologists have struggled to find genetic causes for height. ...

Four years after she won a City Council seat, making her what is believed to be Georgia's first transgender politician, Michelle Bruce is battling a lawsuit launched by an unsuccessful opponent who claims she misled voters by running as a female.

Bruce, a tall woman with shoulder-length graying hair, said she has always identified herself as transgender. "I've always been Michelle," she said. "If someone has a problem with that, I can't help them. It's a personal issue."...

Only slim, cute and tall women need apply for work as hostesses for ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, organisers said on Tuesday.

They must have stunning figures and measure between 1,68 metres and 1,78m in height, well over the 1,58m average for Chinese women...

To all those people who blurt out "Wow, you're tall!" as they stare up at George Bell: He knows. And now, the world will know, too. The lanky, 7-foot-8 Norfolk sheriff's deputy is being recognized Thursday by Guinness World Records as the Tallest Man in the United States.

That makes him 2 inches taller than the NBA's current tallest player, Yao Ming, but too short to be the world's tallest living man. He stands below, according to Guinness, Ukraine's 8-foot-5.5 Leonid Stadnyk and China's Bao Xi Shun, who is 7 feet 8.95 inches. ...

There is, improbably, a giraffe coming out of the tree, his legs poking out front, his sweet face a less-than-angelic tree topper. A few aisles over, on a table, there's a dragon made of gingerbread that quite amazingly bellows smoke. And across the wide room, fairies are flying in an upside-down tree. ...

As for that giraffe tree, it was — wait for it — created by the Tall Club of SLC, with support from Federal Financial Group. Decidedly not "short" on humor, it includes a bikini-clad giraffe (one of about 50 different long-necked creatures), giraffe-skin wrapping paper on the gifts and other whimsical touches.

Tom Herzog enjoys 'living large'

Imagine what it would be like to be seven-feet-tall. You'd have to duck going through doorways, you couldn't fit into a car and you'd have to have a Shaq-sized bed. Those are all things Tom Herzog deals with every day. So we spent a day with big Tom to see what it's like to 'live large.' Read more »