As well as being at increased risk of a series of respiratory conditions, the lungs of children who breathe in passive smoke may also develop more slowly than children who grow up in smoke-free homes.

BBC: Passive smoking 'kills 600,000' worldwide

Not only did I watch these exceptional young men and women grow up right before my eyes, but they slowly transformed into confident professionals who will have a profound impact on the business of baseball.

FORBES: Fond Reflections On The Winter Meetings

Ordinarily, when unemployment shoots up wages do not tend to fall: they simply grow more slowly.

ECONOMIST: The recession and pay

Nearly half of Blackstone's deals since 2009, for example, have been stakes in start-up or "platform" companies that it will slowly grow through deals.

WSJ: Private-Equity Firms Forced to Evolve

But the harm they do as a destroyer of habitat, by ripping up corals and sponges, and wrecking the nurseries of fish species that grow very slowly, seems out of proportion to any gain from scraping the ocean floor: one zoologist has compared it to cutting down virgin forests, full of rare species, to collect squirrels.

ECONOMIST: Marine conservation