One of the big take-aways from a lot of economic theory is that people should engage in consumption smoothing.

For many women - myself included - pregnancy brings on tremendous anxiety and confusion, along with the joy.

Being pregnant was a lot like being a child again. There was always someone telling you what to do.

In short, humans are programmed to get bored.

Economists actually disagree about whether there are significant economic returns from attending an elite college versus a less-selective one.

The most active period of the witchcraft trials coincides with a period of lower than average temperature known to climatologists as the "little ice age"...In a time period when the reasons for changes in weather were largely a mystery, people would have searched for a scapegoat in the face of deadly changes in weather patterns. 'Witches' became target for blame because there was an existing cultural framework that both allowed their persecution and suggested that they could control the weather.

There is some risk to increase birth defects if you do a lot of outdoor gardening when you are pregnant. That can increase rates of toxoplasmosis.