RISING OCEAN TEMPERATURES
The oceans, like the rest of the planet, set a temperature record in 2014, at 60.9°F (16°C), or 1.03°F above the 20th century average. Acidity is up as well—a bad combination for sea life.
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Risky Professions
One in six roofers suffers an injury each year. The least risky profession: Legal services.
Read moreGirls Outperform Boys
Percentage of countries worldwide in which girls outperform boys in academic achievement: 70
Read moreTHE FASTEST TRAINS
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 trains: Shanghai Maglev Train, China: 268 TGV, France: 199 AVE, Spain: 193 Sapsan, Russia: 155 Acela Express, U.S.: 150
Read moreTreated Sewage Water Used To Make Beer
A home-brew club in Oregon will soon start making beer from treated sewage water. Clean Water Services, which runs four wastewater treatment plants in the Portland area, will let the Oregon Brew Crew use recycled sewage to make batches of beer. “I’m excited,” said Lee Hedgmon, president of the club. “I’m trying to think of a really cool recipe.” Hedgmon […]
Read moreCost of Tobacco
$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 they would appeal the ruling.
Read moreSkiing in shorts
Parts of the Northeast received up to 18 inches of snow over Memorial Day weekend. Snow blanketed parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate New York.
Read moreSeeing The Light In China
Bad drivers in Shenzhen, China, who blast oncoming motorists with high beam headlights will now face in-kind punishment from police. Police officials in the Chinese city said drivers who abuse the use of high beams will be stopped by police, ticketed for roughly $50, pulled from their car, and forced to stare into police cruiser headlights for five minutes. According […]
Read moreStuck In A Chimney
California firefighters spent two hours extracting a naked woman from a chimney after she tried to sneak into her ex-boyfriend’s home at 5 a.m. The 35-year-old took off her clothes in the hope it would help her fit down the 1-foot-wide chimney. But halfway down, she became wedged and called the ex on her cellphone. “I said, ‘Where are you […]
Read moreHello, I’m Johnny Cash
A 60-year-old Dutch man received a brain implant to cure his obsessive-compulsive disorder, and suddenly became a fanatical Johnny Cash fan. The patient said his doctors, “kept listening simply and solely to Johnny Cash.”
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