Facts & Trends

8 Year Old Donates Hair

For the past two years, Christian McPhilamy, 8, has put up with a lot of teasing over his long blond locks.  But nothing could discourage the Florida boy from growing his hair to help other kids who have lost theirs ...

Protecting The World

25%:  Share of the world’s population that the U.S. is legally bound to defend thanks to pacts and treaties signed with over 60 countries, according to a report from the Harvard Belfer Center ...

CORAL-REEF DECLINE

Heat and acidity are also bad for coral reefs, which have declined by 40% in some areas since the 1970s.  Coral organisms reproduce just once a year, making it hard for reefs to bounce back ...

Not the valedictorian

Danielle Shea, 22, was charged with trying to cancel Quinnipiac University’s graduation ceremony by calling in a bomb threat.  Shea, police said, didn’t want her parents to find out she had dropped out and was pocketing their tuition money ...

Carbon Emissions In China

Portion of China's carbon emissions that is produced by manufacturing goods for export: 1/4 ...

Too Much Brawn, Not Enough Brains

A gang of German bank robbers trying to blow open an ATM machine used too much explosive and destroyed the entire bank.  The blast reduced the bank building in the village of Malliss to rubble and damaged cars more than ...

Gun Ownership In America

Americans own nearly 300 million firearms, a new national study found.  This translates to nearly nine guns for every 10 people, a per capita ownership rate nearly 50 percent higher than any other country's ...

Heatwave In India

A farmer sits on his parched land in the village of Gauribidanur in India’s southern Karnataka state on May 26, as a brutal heat wave continued to blister the country, claiming at least 1,100 lives and causing roads to melt ...

Paralympic Medal Winner Regains Use of Her Legs

A Paralympic medal winner who spent half her life in a wheelchair has made a miraculous recovery, and now hopes to represent her country in the Olympics.  Monique van der Vorst had been paralyzed from the waist down since the ...

Nuke Facts

15,654 - Total known land area, in square miles (40,544 sq km), of U.S. nuclear-weapon bases and facilities 2 - Minimum number of people required to authorize a U.S. nuclear attack ...