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Birth control, also known as contraception and fertility control, refers to methods or devices used to prevent pregnancy. Planning and provision of birth control is called family planning. Safe sex, such as the use of male or female condoms, can also help prevent transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Contraceptive use in developing countries has cut the number of maternal deaths by 44% (about 270,000 deaths averted in 2008) but could prevent 73% if the full demand for birth control were met. Because teenage pregnancies are at greater risk of adverse outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth weight and infant mortality, adolescents need comprehensive sex education and access to reproductive health services, including contraception. By lengthening the time between pregnancies, birth control can also improve adult women's delivery outcomes and the survival of their children. Effective birth control methods include barriers such as condoms, diaphragms, and the contraceptive sponge; hormonal contraception including oral pills, patches, vaginal rings, and injectable contraceptives; and intrauterine devices (IUDs). Emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. Long-acting reversible contraception such as implants, IUDs, or vaginal rings are recommended to reduce teenage pregnancy. Sterilization by means such as vasectomy and tubal ligation is permanent contraception. Some people regard sexual abstinence as birth control, but abstinence-only sex education often increases teen pregnancies when offered without contraceptive education. Birth control methods have been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods only became available in the 20th century. For some people, contraception involves moral issues, and many cultures limit access to birth control due to the moral and political issues involved. About 222 million women who want to avoid pregnancy in developing countries are not using a modern contraception method. Birth control increases economic growth because of fewer dependent children, more women participating in the workforce, and less consumption of scarce resources. Women's earnings, assets, body mass index, and their children's schooling and body mass index all substantially improve with greater access to contraception.

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The Ambassadors (1533) is a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger in the National Gallery, London. As well as being a double portrait, the painting contains a still life of several meticulously rendered objects, the meaning of which is the cause of much debate. The most notable and famous of Holbein's symbols in the work is the skewed skull, rendered in anamorphic perspective, which is placed in the painting's bottom centre. It is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting nearly from the side to see the form morph into an accurate rendering of a human skull.

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• ... that The Art of Woo, starring Sook-Yin Lee and Adam Beach, was funded by a grant from the Canadian Film Centre's Featured Film Project?
• ... that Eugene Eisenmann worked as a lawyer before writing The Species of Middle American Birds for the Linnaean Society of New York?
• ... that the Society of Friends of the Constitution, formed in 1791 to support the Constitution of 3 May (pictured), was the first Polish political party?

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• 14 September 1955 - Foundation of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots
• 20 September 1848 - American Association for the Advancement of Science (pictured) created in Pennsylvania
• 21 September 1995 - Nepal Physical Society signed the agreement to be a reciprocal society with the American Physical Society (APS)
• 30 September 1845 - Phi Alpha Literary Society founded in a college dorm room

“ Man seeketh in society comfort, use, and protection. ” — Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605)

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James Boyd (1906–1998) was an American physicist, mathematician, and academic administrator. He was director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) from 1957 to 1961, president of West Georgia College from 1961 to 1971, and acting president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1971 to 1972. Along with two fellow Georgia Tech researchers, Boyd co-founded Scientific Atlanta, where he was a board member for 25 years. As director of the Engineering Experiment Station (now GTRI), Boyd was involved with the establishment of nuclear research at Georgia Tech and the construction of the Neely Nuclear Research Center. As president of West Georgia College, Boyd oversaw the racial integration of the campus in 1963, unprompted by a court order. In 1971, Boyd was assigned as interim president of Georgia Tech following a brief tenure as a vice chancellor for the University System of Georgia. At Georgia Tech, Boyd resolved issues involving the attempted takeover of the Engineering Experiment Station by former president Arthur G. Hansen and alumni calls to fire head football coach Bud Carson. (Full article...)

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