Why is America a nation of growing inequality? The yawning economic and cultural gap between the well-to-do and the working class—now wider than at almost any point in our history—has academics and pundits searching for explanations. Now, a new Harvard study provides an illuminating—and “horrifying”—insight into what’s going on. The affluent and the working classes, the study found, are raising […]
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According to a report from Oxfam the world’s eight richest people are worth as much as the 3.6 poorest people in the world. The total of their worth is $426 billion compared to 50% of the world’s poorest at $409 billion. The billionaires included in this list are Bill Gates ($75 billion), Warren Buffett ($61 billion), and Mark Zuckerberg ($45 […]
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Geologists are warning that fracking may be leading to an increase in seismic activity. A recent advisory from the U.S. Geological Survey warns that activities related to hydraulic fracturing—or fracking, extracting oil and natural gas from subterranean rock formations—has likely contributed to the recent spike in earthquakes in Oklahoma, and experts warn that the chances for a major quake in […]
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As a way to help the street children of India Rita Panicker founded Butterflies, a non-governmental organization back in 2001. She believes that if children who can help themselves become more independent and self-supporting have a better sense of pride in themselves. Some of the children had jobs from rag picking to sweeping floors, but they didn’t have the help […]
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In southern Australia, it’s raining spiders. Spiders can ride the wind using an ingenious migration technique known as ballooning. Residents of Goulburn, Australia, received a startling demonstration of the phenomenon last week, when hundreds of thousands of tiny spiders descended from the sky on gossamer parachutes. “The whole place was covered in these little black spiderlings, and when I looked […]
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Roger Pasquier hunts for coins on NYC sidewalks and keeps track of how much he finds. He discovered an odd consequence of everyone having a smartphone: people don’t pick up change on the sidewalk anymore. From 1987 to 2006, he averaged about fifty-eight dollars a year. Then Apple introduced the iPhone, and millions of potential competitors started to stare at […]
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Since NASA has made missions to the moon, Mars, and Pluto they are now getting ready to mission to the sun. This spacecraft will come within four million miles from the sun’s surface to explore its atmosphere and observe how this star works. The probe called Solar Probe Plus will have a shield on it so that it can survive […]
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A group of four burglars stole some computers and office supplies from the Taminmin College in Humpty Doo, Australia. They used some crocodiles in their entry to the office by throwing them through the window to gain access. They must have known that they would be recorded during this caper because they were shirtless and had masks on their heads. […]
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A North Carolina man who had spent nine months on the run from police was caught when he won a police sponsored doughnut eating contest. Bradley Hardison, 24, gobbled down eight doughnuts in two minutes at an event in Elizabeth City, NC. He defeated several locals, including police officers. Officer Max Robeson saw a report about the contest in a […]
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Since the late 1990s, when they began decoding the human genome, scientists have believed that 98 percent of DNA is “junk,” with no function. But new research shows that most of this genetic material serves as switches that turn genes on or off, which could explain why some people predisposed to certain diseases get them, while others don’t. Our genome […]
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