Facts & Trends

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Your risk of getting heartburn today is 1 in 150 ...

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 ...

Portion of college students who believe alcohol improves their ability to tell jokes: 3/4 ...

The almost-bankrupt Italian city of Naples began DNA-testing dog feces on its poop-covered sidewalks, so it can prosecute residents who don’t pick up.  “I know some people find it funny that with all the problems the city has, we would focus ...

A British survey found that the average man looks at himself in the mirror 23 times a day, compared with 16 times for women.  Men like to "admire" their appearance, researchers found, while women simply make sure "they look OK." ...