Skills on From the Cradle are intended to represent basic abilities that require a degree of education or experience to attain proficiency at. These skills are meant to represent fairly broad categories: for instance, 'medicine' includes skills like first aid, 'rifles' include everything from 20th-century style hunting rifles to assault weapons, and so on. The skills are:

Bribery: How skilled you are at offering goods or services to get out of a tight spot.
Computers: Skill at using and repairing computer systems.
Dexterity: Feats of fine coordination such as lockpicking and delicate adjustments.
Endurance: Ability to perform physical activity without tiring.
Gunnery: Fixed weapons emplacements.
Hand-to-Hand Combat: Close-quarters fighting with fist, foot, knife, etc.
Handguns: Firearms that can be used effectively (if not comfortably) from one hand.
Investigation: Connecting the dots and finding the true nature of things.
Language: Proficiency in a given species's tongue. See NEWS LANGUAGES for more information.
Leadership: Motivating and encouraging those who follow you.
Medicine: First aid, surgery, diagnosis, and the other life-saving arts.
Perception: Keeping awareness of what's going on around you.
Persuasion: Convincing somebody to do it your way.
Piloting: Operation of aircraft and spacecraft.
Rifles: Weapons fired from the shoulder or laying prone with two hands.
Stealth: Moving without being detected.
Willpower: Resisting in the face of torture, temptation, etc.