Today in Research: A Deluge of Twins; College Is Good for You

Discovered: A twin baby boom, college leads to better health, how to turn skinny babies into skinny adults, and a PTSD gene.

• There's a deluge of twins. There must be something fashionable about matching babies, because it's quite popular to have them these days. "Prior to 1980, the incidence of U.S. twin births was stable at about two percent of all births, but it has risen dramatically in the past three decades," said researcher Barbara Luke. In 2009 one in 30 babies born in the U.S. was a twin, compared to one in every 53 in 1980. The big increase is not exactly about fashion, but it's not something in the water etiher. "Older maternal age accounts for about one-third of the rise, and two-thirds is due to the increased use of fertility treatments," Luke said. [International Society of Twin Studies]

• College is healthy. Um, certainly not the way we handled those four years. But, in general, according to science, having a college education leads to overall better health in the end. Looking at over 3,000 countries, those with a higher percentage of college educated people had fewer premature deaths. Though four years of drinking, gluttony, drugs, and Aderall probably scrape years off of one's life, not going to college at all has worse effects. If you're unemployed, you're likely to be without insurance and to have a lot of stress in your life," said researcher Pat Remington. "You often give up hope and that often leads to substance abuse and other self-destructive behaviors. So all these things are part of a web of health." [Reuters]

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.