The European Space Agency’s incoming director general, Jan Worner, wants to build a village on the moon. Other nations have similarly out-of-this-world ambitions: Japan Launched a probe to mine an asteroid in 2018 China Plans to build a huge solar-power station in space Russia Hopes to send probes to Jupiter, Mars and Venus India Is exploring sending a rocket to […]
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More than 1 in 10 Americans used marijuana 2012. But pot isn’t gaining users as fast as heroin or LSD. Nor is it the most addictive drug.
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A California man has paid off a $14,000 property-tax bill using only dollar bills and loose change. Larry Gasper says he wasn’t deliberately trying to inconvenience county officials with the unorthodox payment, which he transported to county offices in a wheelbarrow—causing the clerks’ jaws to drop. It’s just that he’s very short of money, and had to scrape up the […]
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Total number of passenger planes that have gone missing without a trace since 2000: 10
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Percentage of U.S. children in 1960 who lived in households headed by heterosexuals in their first marriage: 73 Who do today: 46
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A British woman has become the first person to ski across Antarctica without the help of kites, machines, or dogs. Felicity Aston, 34, completed the 1,084-mile journey in 59 days, battling through the frozen wastes in temperatures as low as -22 and dragging 187 pounds of supplies behind her on a sled. She overcame crushing loneliness by listening to Agatha Christie […]
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Estimated amount spent globally on fertility drugs and devices this year: $4,054,984,000 Percentage of first-time fertility treatments that fail: 75
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A survey of 700 flight attendants revealed that among the items air passengers have left on planes are a live parrot, a box of dried fish, a toupee, hand-cuffs, and a glass eye.
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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.
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Percentage of countries worldwide in which girls outperform boys in academic achievement: 70
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