Last week, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, readers @amyh914, @dauentina and ?@TheRealYadiM all asked if we should expect a spike in birth rates along the East Coat nine months from now—a mini-baby boom caused by Sandy.The idea that disasters and birth rates are correlated goes back at least to at least 1965, when a blackout plunged New York City into darkness for several hours one November night. The following August, the New York Times noted a “sharp increase in births” in several of the... READ ON

Photo of the 69th Infantry Regiment's armory in New York City by Wikimedia user Dmadeo, edited by user AndreasPraefcke. When SuperStorm Sandy hit New York City last week, the Army National Guard's 69th Infantry Regiment found themselves without electricity, hot water, or even good ways to communicate with anyone outside the armory. That's when Victoria's Secret came to the rescue. Although the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show won't air until December 4, it's being filmed at the National... READ ON

Wikimedia CommonsThat’s all, folks: The 2012 election is finally over. In the run up, we tackled big election questions, from why we vote on Tuesdays to what would happen in the event of a natural disaster on Election Day to whether Americans actually move to Canada after elections. But there’s one lingering question we haven’t yet tackled: Where did the notion of Red States and Blue States come from, and how did those colors come to represent their particular political... READ ON

Wikimedia Commons"That's it, I'm moving to Canada." So goes the liberal response every time the Democratic candidate loses a presidential election. The prospect of four years of Republican rule makes America's northerly neighbor — where everyone has health care, gay marriage is legal, financial regulations are strict, and the death penalty is abolished — seem like a sanctuary of progressive values. However, conservatives in recent years have also jumped on the Canadian bandwagon, claiming... READ ON