Topic description and stories

Tales from the edge of modern fertilities

15 Dec 2020

A major research project sees sociologists situated at emerging hot spots of reproductive change, investigating the new ‘haves and have-nots’ in our...

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Surviving birth

10 Dec 2020

Researchers at one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the world aim to help more women survive complications giving birth.

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Mother and newborn baby

Nature’s epidural: Genetic variant may explain why some women don’t need pain relief during childbirth

21 Jul 2020

Women who do not need pain relief during childbirth may be carriers of a key genetic variant that acts a natural epidural, say scientists at the...

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Early childhood mortality rates in 1851 (left) and 1911 (right). The highest rates are in red and the lowest in blue.

Online atlas explores north-south divide in childbirth and child mortality during Victorian era

15 May 2018

A new interactive online atlas, which illustrates when, where and possibly how fertility rates began to fall in England and Wales during the...

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Opinion: Losing your virginity: how we discovered that genes could play a part

15 Apr 2016

John Perry and Ken Ong (MRC Epidemiology Unit) discuss how sexual milestones are influenced by our genes and how this can impact on broader health...

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