Mary was excited to visit the obstetrician. At 38 weeks of gestation, Mary was tired of being pregnant! Mary’s doctor said that she would consider inducing labor if the fetus was ready.

The ultrasound technician took a measurement of the fetus’ femur in millimetres from the

computer screen. It was consistent with 39 weeks of gestation. She also measured the amount

of amniotic fluid in the spaces between the fetus’ body and the interior of the womb. The

combination of the femur length and the smaller-than-normal amount of amniotic fluid

influenced the doctor’s decision to approve an induction that afternoon. At birth, the baby

weighed 5 lbs 13 oz, and her development was consistent with 35–36 weeks gestation—

clearly, this fetus was not ready to be born.

How important are measurements to health professionals in their decision making? What

other factors might have the physician considered?

to prevent people from getting the ebola virus, countries around the world paid to doctors develop a new vaccine. now that the vaccine has been made, doctors will need to experiment on a large number of people to find out if it works safely.

what is the greatest limitation that scientists are dealing with as they try to figure out how to experiment with the ebola vaccine?

meditation is a practice of sitting still and quiet for minutes or even hours. it has been practiced for thousands of years and is even a part of religious practices for some people. carefully controlled, repeated measurements of brain activity have shown that meditation does increase certain chemicals in the brain and even grows the part of the brain that people connect with their current surroundings and activities.

are claims about the effects of meditation most likely scientific or pseudoscientific?

not pseudoscientific, because people have made claims about it but scientific observations have not been made