A growing feeling among advocacy traditionalists is that recruiting supporters through mass-email blasts has spawned a lazier form of activism, sometimes referred to as “slacktivism” or “clicktivism.” However, whether or not the tags of “lazy” or “ineffective” are accurate remains a subject of ongoing inquiry and debate.

The surge in U.S. methamphetamine use began in 2001 and peaked in 2005, when federal legislation was passed to target the drug. For a time, law enforcement appeared to get the upper hand and the problem began, relatively speaking, to subside. One vexing issue remains that the drug’s core chemical ingredients, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, are commonly found in legal drugs available in stores.

Between 1966 and 2003, the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and glucose syrup through beverages increased more than 11-fold in the United States. Because soft drinks now account for almost 50% of the added sugars present in U.S. diets, understand the broad range of physiological impacts that these beverages have on their consumers is essential.

As major political questions about unauthorized immigrants in the United States continue to be debated, the size and nature of the undocumented population is changing. Observers note several new trends that may be driving such changes. Law enforcement tactics and policies are evolving, home country economies are changing, and the negative economic and labor situation within the United States has made the country less attractive to some potential migrants.

Over the past 50 years, American children have been growing up in increasingly diversified family structures. As divorce, remarriage, cohabitation and other such events have refashioned home life, studies have found that transitions for children can have negative educational consequences.

In 2002 the Institute of Medicine estimated that 4.3% of men with a child under 18 years old had suffered a paternity-related depressive disorder, while other studies have placed the probability of such depression within the first year of a child’s life as high as 10.4%.

The approval system for medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration has two tracks: Pre-Market Approval (PMA), which involves clinical trials and inspections; or, alternatively, the fast-track 510(k) approval, which only requires a device to be “substantially equivalent” to an existing one. Although the 510(k) process has come under criticism, the precise extent of the risks involved with “fast-tracking” medical device approval has not been studied comprehensively.

Over the past 50 years, many nations have legalized casino gambling. Thousands of casinos are now located worldwide, in nearly every populated region of the globe. The licensing of such businesses is sometimes a local or regional affair, but larger national and global patterns may also be discernible.