Facts & Trends
A very green thumb
A Florida man with a "moral opposition" to trimming the plants, grass, and weeds in his yard has racked up over $130,000 in fines. Neighbors complain that Sean Law's unkempt lawn is an eyesore that's driving down property values, but ...
DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
The Pew Research Center asked adult Internet users in 32 developing and emerging countries if they use social networks. Here’s a sampling of who said yes: Philippines 93% Venezuela 88% Indonesia 86% Egypt 78% China 58% ...
Costs To U.S.A. Since 9/11
The United States costs of military and nation-building activities in Afghanistan and Iraq since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, is approaching half a trillion dollars - nearly the same cost as the 13-year-long Vietnam War ...
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 ...
ASTEROID 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 ...
Millennial Views
The lower you go on the generational totem pole, the more ethnically diverse you get. Young adults between 18-24 (so-called Millennial) don't like racial labels because they don't recognize the dividing lines of the past—they are the vanguard of a ...
Bacteria That Make You Thin
The species of bacteria that dominate our guts may strongly affect whether we’re thin or fat. Researchers at Washington University collected samples of gut bacteria from pairs of twins in which one was obese and the other thin. Then they ...
Cost of Gun Violence
Gun violence now costs Americans an estimated $229 billion a year, including the expense of imprisoning gun offenders, medical treatment for the roughly 31,000 people killed and 75,000 wounded each year, lost wages, and loss of quality of life among ...
Alcohol Improves Joke Telling
Portion of college students who believe alcohol improves their ability to tell jokes: 3/4 ...
