How have preventive and curative medical breakthroughs shaped life expectancy and the dispersion of age at death in the United States over the past century? We address this question by developing a life-cycle model in which both health and lifespan are endogenous. The model distinguishes between preventive innovations, which reduce the incidence of disease, and curative advances, which lower mortality risks associated with existing health conditions. Our quantitative analysis shows that while both types of medical innovation have contributed to increased life expectancy since 1935, curative advances have been the primary driver of the decline in the dispersion of age at death. Medical innovations have also improved welfare – measured in terms of a consumption-equivalent metric – by an average of 0.11% per year, with curative advances representing the most significant contribution. These findings are robust across different scenarios and parametrization strategies.

Previously observed specialization in sheep/goat kill-off patterns from Romanian Eneolithic sites raises the question of a limited duration of the slaughtering period. In order to provide reliable month of death distribution for sheep/goats, the approach developed here takes into account uncertainties regarding the age-at-death and the month of birth, based on classic archaeozoological techniques. We show that sheep slaughtering rarely occurred from late spring to early autumn or from summer to mid-fall, both at Hârşova tell and Borduşani-Popină. Conversely, it is very likely that fishing activities took place primarily from spring to early autumn. This points to the existence of seasonal and complementary food supply strategies at both sites. Several possible explanations for these seasonal strategies are discussed. We also highlight the homogeneity in the management of domestic herds between the two sites, raising the question of a certain standardization in pastoral practices on a larger scale.

As noted by Geoffrey Chamberlain, the two baby girls found in Tutankhamen's tomb were probably his stillborn heirs. More controversially he suggested that they were twins, although one appeared to be larger than the other. Here new research on estimating the age of a fetus is shown to support the twin hypothesis, while recent work on Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome explains why they could be such different sizes.

Perinatal mortality in twins is found to vary widely in six developed countries for which national data are available. The influence of factors such as birth weight, maternal age, and parity is examined, but no consistent trend is found.