Population science is once more centre-stage, pushed by climate change, which raises worries about the impact so many billions have on the environment of the earth, and food-price spikes, which imply doubts about whether it will be possible to feed them all.

ECONOMIST: The digressions of people power

Still, reports on population exposure are as much guesswork as science.

WSJ: In Japan, Relief at Radiation's Low Toll

The academic research has in turn spawned a population of venture-capital-funded work in life science.

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