Facts & Trends

Portion of Americans who are currently taking at least one prescription drug: 1/2 Who are taking five or more: 1/10 Estimated number of U.S. children aged two or three being prescribed ADHD medication: 14,000 ...

Trameka Pope has a lot to be proud of.  The 19-year-old was homeless as a child and had a daughter right before she entered ninth grade, but next week she'll graduate as valedictorian of Chicago's Wendell Phillips Academy High School ...

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.” ...

Percentage by which New York City’s homeless-shelter population increased under Bloomeberg: 65 Portion of the city’s shelter population who are children: 2/5 ...

A new University of Washington study has found that 2.1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. Here's a snapshot of the percentage of people who fall in those categories around the world: Saudi Arabia - 69.4% U.S. - 67.4% ...

Young Muslims are still flocking to radical jihadist groups in record numbers. A United Nations study found that at least 25,000 people from more than 100 nations have left home to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and ...

A magnetic levitation passenger train set a world speed record of 375 m.p.h. (603 km/h) on a test track in Japan on April 21. Here are top operating speeds, in miles per hour, of some of the world’s other fastest ...

One in six roofers suffers an injury each year. The least risky profession: Legal services ...

British teams of scientists, using satellite tracking, have found that 10.7% of glaciers in Antarctica are starting to retreat at an alarming rate of speed.  Much faster than had been expected for average melts.  The warm water from the oceans ...

Russia, the world’s second biggest cigarette consumer after China, has banned smoking in most public places as well as all tobacco advertising.  Even popular Soviet-era cartoons featuring pipe smokers are to be censored. It’s unclear, though, how the ban will be ...