Outsmarting the NSA
Russia’s secret service ordered dozens of electric typewriters, saying that recent revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency’s online surveillance program made them distrust computer communications.
Read moreCategory: Facts & Trends
The secrets of supermassive black holes
Astronomers have spotted the most enormous black holes ever detected, inspiring new theories about how such pockets of extreme gravity form. Together, the two objects, which are roughly 300 million light-years away, have more mass than 30 billion suns, University of California at Berkeley astrophysicist Chung-Pei Ma tells the Associated Press. “They are monstrous,” she says. The smaller of the […]
Read morePrisoners Exonerated
Number of U.S. prisoners exonerated last year: 125 Percentage of those exonerations in which no crime had occurred: 44
Read moreASTEROID MAPPING
Amateur astronomers can now put their observations to good use through the new Asteroid Data Hunter app. The software, which works on almost any Windows or Mac computer, is a collaborative effort between NASA and Planetary Resources, a company that hopes to mine asteroids for their mineral wealth. NASA is interested in asteroids because of potential threats to Earth. App […]
Read moreHelping Out Our Neighbors
Homeowners in Centennial, Colo., woke up to a pleasant surprise last Sunday morning: a group of teens who went around shoveling their neighbors’ sidewalks and driveways free of charge. “They did everything: the whole driveway, the stoop, the whole sidewalk,” said one thankful recipient. “You just don’t see that in this day and age.”The high schoolers refused any money that […]
Read moreSportsmanship At Its Finest
A Spanish long-distance runner showed exemplary sportsmanship last month when he helped a confused rival finish before him. Iván Fernández Anaya was in second place to Olympic bronze medalist Abel Mutai in a race in Navarre, Spain, when he noticed the Kenyan runner stop about 30 feet from the finish line. Mutai thought he had completed the race and couldn’t […]
Read moreIt Was A Good Week For . . .
Bird calls, after firefighters in Idaho rushed into a burning building when they heard voices calling “Help! Fire!” only to discover a pair of “talking” parrots. “There was nobody besides the birds inside,” said one fireman. “Smart birds.”
Read moreStatistics Of Rape
Almost one in five women—19.3 percent—has been raped, and 44 percent have suffered sexual violence, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of the women who were raped identified the perpetrator as a boyfriend or husband.
Read moreA bad year for bees
Colony collapse disorder, the mysterious scourge that has been killing off honeybees since 2005, has suddenly become a lot more deadly. This past winter, as many as half of all hives succumbed to the disorder—up from one third annually in recent years, and between 5 and 10 percent when hives were healthy. “It is a catastrophe in progress,” beekeeper Steve […]
Read moreAir Pollution
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
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