Facts & Trends

A specimen of the world’s largest flower, the titan arum, is about to bloom at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. To attract carrion insects, the flower emits a stench botanists likened to “a very dead elephant.” ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India's first air-quality index in April, but pollution will keep growing unless India stems coal production, which Modi has pledged to double by 2020 ...

What's most important—and troubling— is the decades-long, systemic expansion of the economic distance between the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor, and the long, backward slide for the majority of those in-between ...

Baby Boomers who frequently used recreational drugs like marijuana and cocaine in their youth are now turning back to drugs like Oxycontin for relief of age-related pain and illness. As a result, the fatal-overdose rate for people ages 45 to ...

Children and young adults who are bullied are more than twice as likely to consider suicide and two and a half times as likely to try to kill themselves, a new study has concluded—and those taunted online are even more ...

Portion of Americans who live in areas harmful levels of air pollution: 1/2 Number of the top five most polluted cities in the country that are in California: 5 ...

Cary Clevenger, 14, was playing with his friend Gavin Starns outside Gavin's house in Austin when he happened to look up.  Perched on the ledge of a second-story window was Gavin's 2-year-old brother, Cannon.  At that moment, Cannon pushed through the ...

Just 30 percent of Americans aged 17 to 24 are eligible to become soldiers, according to the U.S. Army. The remaining 70 percent of young people are either too obese or are disqualified because they have a criminal history or ...

Delhi’s air now contains twice as much toxic matter as that of notoriously smoggy Beijing. The health impact has been disastrous, with children in Delhi now three times as likely as others in India to develop severe lung disorders ...

The government spent $74.6 billion on food stamp benefits last year, up from $30.4 billion in 2007. With 15 percent of Americans now receiving food stamps, the program's budget is equivalent to the combined budgets of the Department of Homeland ...