“I’d give anything to come home”

The chickens come home to roost.

As the number of human deaths from avian influenza grows and as the disease spreads geographically , fears of a 21st century influenza epidemic or pandemic mount. Even if the disease does not reach epidemic proportions imminently, the fears are nonetheless well-founded. Induc-tive reasoning leads to the conclusion that an influenza epidemic will arise, as such epidemics have arisen many times b...

Darwin anniversaries come home

It was an event one hundred years ago: the centenary of Charles Darwin's birth was marked widely, no more so than by one of Germany's most famous biologists, Ernst Haeckel. He delivered an address at the University of Jena celebrating Darwin as one of the last events before he retired. Another century on and many institutions worldwide have celebrations under way this year to mark 200 years sin...

Can an ensemble give anything more than Gaussian probabilities?

Can a relatively small numerical weather prediction ensemble produce any more forecast information than can be reproduced by a Gaussian probability density function (PDF)? This question is examined using site-specific probability forecasts from the UK Met Office. These forecasts are based on the 51-member Ensemble Prediction System of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts. Veri...

You can come home again.

Staying home to give birth: why women in the United States choose home birth.

Approximately 1% of American women give birth at home and face substantial obstacles when they make this choice. This study describes the reasons that women in the United States choose home birth. A qualitative descriptive secondary analysis was conducted in a previously collected dataset obtained via an online survey. The sample consisted of 160 women who were US residents and planned a home b...