Economists and sociologists have long insisted that abortion and birth control lead to economic growth and a new paper 
in the journal Demography says it's instead education.

All of those are correlated so there is no wrong answer. More economically developed, educated nations suffer population declines to such an extent they have to recruit immigrants to work and pay taxes to support an elderly population that doesn't replace itself. But spending billions of dollars on education rather than birth control would not be the answer - food and energy are. With the ability to grow food and meet basic needs, wealth and culture always flourish and that leads to education which leads to growth.

Raman scattering mode is an optical phenomenon, discovered in 1928 by the physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, that involves the inelastic scattering of photons - the physical phenomenon by which a medium can modify the frequency of the light impinging on it. 

The difference corresponds to an exchange of energy (wavelength) between the light beam and the medium. In this way, scattered light does not have the same wavelength as incidental light. The technique has become widely used since the advent of the laser in the industry and for research .

A method to model the way proteins fold, and sometimes misfold, has revealed branching behavior that may have implications for Alzheimer's and other aggregation diseases. 

In an earlier study of the muscle protein titin, Rice chemist Peter Wolynes and colleagues analyzed the likelihood of misfolding in proteins, in which domains – discrete sections of a protein with independent folding characteristics – become entangled with like sequences on nearby chains. They found the resulting molecular complexes called "dimers" were often unable to perform their functions and could become part of amyloid fibers.

A model has shown that the subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa may have deep currents and circulation patterns with heat and energy transfers capable of sustaining biological life.

Astronomers believe Europa is one of the planetary bodies in our solar system most likely to have conditions that could sustain life, an idea reinforced by magnetometer readings from the Galileo spacecraft detecting signs of a salty, global ocean below the moon's icy shell. Without direct measurements of that ocean, scientists have to rely on magnetometer data and observations of the moon's icy surface to account for oceanic conditions below the ice.

Terroir is the term for the unique blend of a vineyard’s soils, water and climate that impacts the flavor and quality of wine. These unique microbial inputs are key to regional wine fermentations.

A new study from UC Davis, MicroTrek, Inc. and Constellation Brands Inc. offers evidence that grapes and the wines they produce are also the product of an unseen but fairly predictable microbial terroir, itself shaped by the climate and geography of the region, vineyard and even individual vine.

Results from DNA sequencing revealed that there are patterns in the fungal and bacterial communities that inhabit the surface of wine grapes, and these patterns are influenced by vineyard environmental conditions. 

Trials are often as partially showmanship along with the facts - both attorneys are trying to pick jurors who are most likely to go their way.

Moral outrage may be a secret weapon. The last time you were morally outraged you probably felt felt angry, but did you also feel disgust? Consider how you might feel in a court of law after watching a video of a heinous crime.