Fracking and Babies: It’s Complicated

A new study finds an association between living close to fracking wells and babies who were born small for their gestational age. Small for gestational age (SGA) is a particular diagnosis; if a baby is born below the tenth percentile for weight among babies born with...

Should You Hold Your Breath to Reduce Pain?

Original photo © Robert Ingelhart In 2009, an HIV vaccine trial made headlines (e.g., For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success) because the study showed some potentially promising results. When researchers gave an experimental vaccine to 8197 volunteers and a...

Is the Risk of War Declining?

I teach more than one hundred students every year but will bet my house that a student taller than 7’6’’ will never walk into my classroom. This is because human heights conform well to a “normal” distribution, or “bell curve,” rendering large deviations from average...