Medicine includes physicians and patients, but medicine advances through scientific understanding and clinical applications of innovations. Once researchers sort out what is normal, they can engage in study of what is pathological or abnormal. This leads to research on diseases, disorders, syndromes, and the Encyclopedia includes articles on such problems that arise because of abnormal development.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is such a case, in which it required research on many different aspects of development to sort out why a mother’s drinking during pregnancy can cause particular and sadly predictable disorders in the child. You can use the search functions to browse or to search for items related to: