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Though deaths due to drug use and hepatitis C have gone up, falling death rates due to cancer and heart disease have resulted in a global life expectancy increase of 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women between 1990 and 2013, according to an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013).
In high-income regions, falling death rates from most cancers (down by 15%) and cardiovascular diseases (down by 22%) have increased life expectancy, while rapidly declining death rates for diarrhea, lower respiratory tract infections, and neonatal disorders have helped extend life expectancy in low-income countries (see figure 7 page 14, and table 2 pages 15-23). 

Airline pilots can be exposed to the same amount of UV-A radiation as if they visited a tanning bed, because airplane windshields do not completely block UV-A radiation.

In 2009, researchers detected methane on Mars, suggesting the planet may be biologically or geologically active. Now NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory's drill. 

In an era where hackers can easily hack into department store credit card records or Sony Corporation and the US National Security Agency is spying on everyone, it's no surprise people with a choice opt not to have all of the electronic medical records available - even if it puts them at risk.
The first real-world trial of the impact of patient-controlled access to electronic medical records found that 49 percent of the patients who participated withheld clinically sensitive information in their medical records from some or all of their health care providers.

Migraine headaches have been linked to double the risk of a nervous system condition that causes facial paralysis, called Bell's palsy, according to a new study published in the December 17, 2014, online issue of Neurology. 
Bell's palsy affects between 11 and 40 per 100,000 people each year. Most people with Bell's palsy recover completely.  Headaches are the most common disorder of the nervous system, affecting about 12 percent of the US population. 

Big data may be taking over the fashion industry's runways, according to an analysis of relevant words and phrases from fashion reviews.
At the Workshop of Information Technology and Systems in Auckland, researchers analyzed 6,629 runway reviews of 816 designers from Style.com, covering 30 fashion 'seasons' from 2000 to 2014, and have able to identify a network of influence among major designers and track how those style trends moved through the industry, said Heng Xu, associate professor of information sciences and technology, Penn State.

New molecules known as synthetic antibody mimics (SyAMs) attach themselves simultaneously to disease cells and disease-fighting cells. The result is a highly targeted immune response, similar to the action of natural human antibodies;  with both the targeting and response functions.

Mistletoe wasn't always for annoying co-workers at office parties, and it wasn't always just desperate men who think it has magical powers. In previous times, it was held in high regard because it was rootless, green and thriving when the tree it was on looked dead. Celtic druids latched onto it as some sort of supernatural fertility symbol - everything was a fertility symbol to druids - and it crept into popular culture from there.
Today we know it is simply a parasite, which isn't extending its use at office Christmas parties too far. 

Gun ownership in the United States has gone way up yet murders have plummeted. Though high-profile tragedies get mainstream media attention, the gun ban contingent has lost a lot of ground in culture. 

Lots of people say they care about their weight, and there is no end to weight-loss schemes available on websites, but if you ask nutritionists, personal trainers and even some doctors where fat goes when people lose weight, they can't tell you the right answer.
Caveat emptor. 
The most common misconception is that the missing mass has been converted into energy or heat. It's physics, after all. Except it isn't, not in the way they think it is. To lose 10 kilograms of fat requires 29 kilograms of oxygen for the body and that metabolic process produces 28 kilograms of carbon dioxide and 11 kilograms of water. It didn't convert to energy, you didn't "burn" fat.

A desire to be part of the 'in crowd' could damage our ability to make the right decisions, according to a paper in the
journal Interface which claims that individuals have evolved to be overly influenced by their neighbors, rather than rely on their own instinct.
As a result, they believe, groups become less responsive to changes in their natural environment. So much for the wisdom of crowds.

Divorce rates have gone down; the oft-cited 1970s statistic that 'half of all marriages end in divorce' was never really correct, but the belief that it was made divorce much more common.
More young people today are also avoiding divorce by avoiding marriage. As a result, more than half of all American children will have an unmarried mother - and regardless of all of the cultural whitewashing and rationalizations that cultural apologists engage in, the absence of a biological father increases the likelihood that a child will exhibit antisocial behaviors like aggression, rule-breaking and delinquency. Young boys in that environment are 40 percent less likely to finish high school or attend college, regardless of race.