Since the Industrial Revolution, the disparity in per capita income between the richest and poorest nations has increased many times over, and the economic leaders of the prior agricultural era did not necessarily become powerhouses in the next chapter in global development. What caused this great transformation of the world income distribution?

The images of barely clad men and women that adorn magazine covers, posters, billboards and media of all kinds have been a standard feature of popular culture for decades. Critics often condemn the apparent ever-increasing sexualization of advertisements and mass media. Yet, from a quantitative standpoint, it is not precisely clear how much of an escalation there has been, if any, in the use of sexuality in popular culture and marketing.

A 2009 study by the Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults,” looks at the relationship between having health insurance and death rates. The study used data from the CDC’s third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  The survey was conducted between 1988 and 1994 and involved more than 33,000 people.

Coal currently provides more than half the United States’ electricity. Because burning a single ton of coal can create more than two tons of CO₂, a primary contributor to climate change, a technique known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) is under development.

Having accurate knowledge about financial products and services is widely perceived to be advantageous, especially for low-income communities.  However, empirical evidence of this assertion has been relatively scarce.

When choosing a doctor, patients are rarely afforded the opportunity to view the doctor’s records of performance over his or her clinical history. Rather, they make decisions based on the information that is available to them, such as education, gender, nationality, publicly available malpractice history, or board certification.

As U.S. schools struggle with funding cuts and the requirements of the test-centered No Child Left Behind Act, music and other arts programs are often put on the chopping block. Because these courses are frequently seen as “impractical,” they’re often the first to be trimmed or eliminated altogether.

Obesity presents serious health risks at all ages, but is particularly worrisome in children and youth. In addition to having a greater chance of becoming obese in adulthood, obese children and adolescents are also more likely to contract cardiovascular diseases compared to their peers.

In 2007 the World Health Organization introduced a surgical safety checklist as part of its Safe Surgery Saves Lives initiative. The checklist’s purpose was to reduce surgical complications that result from inadequate safety practices as well as to promote greater communication among surgery teams.