Centuries-old database reveals clues on human reproductive habits, trends

When predicting future global population growth, sometimes scientists look to the past. Using a database with historical records that began in 871 A.D., an anthropologist at the University of Missouri was able to show reproductive patterns and shed new light on the "quantity-quality" trade-off, a biological concept used to describe a parent's unconscious decisions to balance between producing and the time and investing in offspring. Results from this study could help to predict future population