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Literacy – that mind-expanding, horizon-stretching, force-multiplier of personal productivity –  was long a skill of elites. Two centuries ago, one person in eight around the world could read and write. A century ago, it had grown to one in three.  Now, the latest World Bank survey puts global literacy at 93 percent. In rich countries and…

Virtually no one disputes that a serious loss of biodiversity is underway. But species extinctions actually peaked about a century ago and have been declining decade by decade, according to a sweeping new study of millions of species over the past 500 years. Most human-caused extinctions historically occurred when people brought invasive species to islands.…

As always, Americans widely believe crime to be rising – not so much in their own town and neighborhood but out there. What the data show is that the US is well on its way to giving 2025 the lowest murder rate ever recorded, after a sharp decrease in 2024 as well. Violent crime overall is…

For most of human history, giving birth was the single most life-threatening thing a woman could do. As late as the early 20th century, some estimates of maternal mortality in the United States ran as high as 1 in every 100 births – with all of the ripples of tragedy and hardship that can imply. That…

So far in the 21st century, carbon emissions per capita are falling everywhere in the US – whether red state or blue, coal producer or solar promoter.  Specifically, between 2005 and 2023, total emissions per resident fell in every state in America. Our daily lives and work are growing more energy efficient in many ways, but…

Add the Chicago River to the list of newly swimmable big-city waterways. The city held the first organized swim last month in the once forbiddingly toxic river since 1925. The river was so heavily dredged, steel-encased, and choked with sewage and other waste that, by the 1970s, only five species of fish remained.  Cue the…

Members of Generation Z, now coming through their most crime-prone years, are the least criminal generation on record. And not by just a little. Among 15-to-19-year-olds, Gen Z’s burglary rate is less than a third that of the Millennials at the same age. Boomers and Gen X had even higher burglary rates. The numbers for…

Two thirds of the world population still living extreme poverty live in Sub-Saharan Africa. But there are signs of economic progress in the region. One is that the share of adults who have formal savings rose to 35 percent last year – up from 23 percent just three years earlier. The gamechanger here is mobile…

Members of Generation Z, now coming through their most crime-prone years, are the least criminal generation on record. And not by just a little. Among 15-to-19-year-olds, Gen Z’s burglary rate is less than a third that of the Millennials at the same age. Boomers and Gen X had even higher burglary rates. The numbers for…

The lack of access to clean drinking water, functioning sanitation systems, and a place to wash one’s hands is a major gateway for some of the most devastating diseases that sweep poor populations, especially those that kill children under 5 around the world. So it is a major step in basic health and quality of…