Facts & Trends

Toxic air pollution in the Indian capital of Delhi has given some 2.2 million children irreversible lung damage, according to a 2010 study from the Kolkata-based Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute that surfaced this month. The report has raised fresh concerns ...

Some addicts hooked on opioids such as OxyContin and Percocet turn to heroin when they lose access to prescription pills. Heroin, far cheaper than pills, is available through networks that source it from Mexico and Colombia ...

47%: Share of U.S. jobs that are at high risk of becoming automated in the next 20 years, according to Oxford University research ...

The rate of U.S. diagnoses for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has doubled in the past 30 years, from 11.2 cases per 100,000 people in 1982 to 22.7 cases per 100,000 in 2011, according to a Centers for ...

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 ...

$15.6 BILLION - The amount of money Quebec Justice Brian Riordan ruled three tobacco companies must pay to more than 1 million smokers in Quebec who have become ill from tobacco use or say they can’t quit smoking.  The companies said ...

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 ...

2,500 - Number of U.S. military dogs on duty worldwide $2,000,000 - Amount the U.S. spent on developing a robotic mule ...

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 ...

The Kentucky Baptist Convention started giving away free steak dinners and guns to encourage “unchurched young rednecks” to come to church and accept Jesus.  “Can you picture Jesus giving away guns?” asked one disapproving pastor ...