Bigger sibs learn to nurture by mentoring little ones; little sibs learn about wisdom by heeding the older ones.

Middle children are expected to set up to the plate when the eldest child goes off to school or in some other way drops out of the picture-and they generally serve when called, becoming what's known as 'functional firstborns'.

From the time we're born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and our cautionary tales.

Suffering is always hard to quantify especially when the pain is caused by as cruel a disease as Alzheimer's. Most illnesses attack the body; Alzheimer's destroys the mind and in the process, annihilates the very self.

Becoming food savvy is one thing, but it’s amazing how fast savvy turns to snooty, and snooty leaves you preparing three-hour meals that break your budget and that the kids won’t even eat.

There are a lot of downsides to being male. We age faster and die younger. But give us this: we’re lifetime baby-making machines. Women’s reproductive abilities start to wane when they’re as young as 35. Men? We’re good to go pretty much till we’re dead.

There’s no one place a virus goes to die – but that doesn’t make its demise any less a public health victory. Throughout human history, viral diseases have had their way with us, and for just as long, we have hunted them down and done our best to wipe them out.

A close family member once offered his opinion that I exhibit the phone manners of a goat, then promptly withdrew the charge – out of fairness to goats.

A child gets vaccinated and soon after, autism symptoms emerge. The apparent cause-and-effect is understandable but erroneous – more a coincidence of the calendar and childhood developmental stages than anything else, as repeated and exhaustive studies have shown.

Never mind what you’ve heard. Halle Berry was not the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. She was actually the 74th white one. And never mind all this talk about America electing its first black President; Barack Obama is actually the 44th white man to hold the job.