A campaign to allow students and teachers to carry guns at public colleges, so they can fire back at mass shooters or defend themselves against sexual assault, is failing in 14 out of 15 states where bills have been introduced. Only in Texas does the legislation have a chance of passing this year.
Read more
A new study has calculated that there are 5.25 trillion small and large pieces of plastic, weighing a total of 269,000 tons, floating in the world’s oceans
Read more
Rate per 100,000 people in 2012 Honduras – 90.4 Venezuela – 53.7 Colombia – 30.8 Brazil – 25.2 Mexico – 21.5 U.S. – 4.7
Read more
The average American woman now weighs 166.2 pounds, about the same as the average American man weighed in the early 1960’s. Over the same time period, U.S. men have gained nearly 30 pounds, from 166.3 in the ’60’s to 195.5 today.
Read more
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 enforced. Moscow police chief Anatoly Yakunin said his force has no plan to arrest violators. “We hope that they will […]
Read more
Gallup ranked 143 countries by how great a share of respondents said they had recently had positive experiences such as laughter or enjoyment. A sampling, from greatest to least: 1 – Paraguay 8 – Costa Rica 15 – U.S. 134 – Afghanistan 143 – Sudan
Read more
Lake Mead, the main reservoir on the Colorado River, is now just 38 percent full — lower than at any time since it was filled in the 1930’s. If the lake sinks lower still during summer months, officials may cut water allotments to Arizona farmers by 50 percent.
Read more
The riskiest hour of the week for fatal traffic accidents is 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday. The safest day for driving: Tuesday.
Read more
In 2012, some 2.9 million adults and teens tried an illicit drug for the first time. More than 80% of them used pot. Among all pot users, 40% take the drug 20 or more days a month. Two states have legalized it for recreational use.
Read more
Of the approximately 11,000 people murdered with guns in the U.S. in 2012, just 322 were killed by an assault weapon or any kind of rifle.The vast majority of killers used handguns.
Read more