🍷 Americans' drinking remains at the lowest level since 1939
54 percent of Americans say they drink alcohol, matching last year's low and the lowest figure since measurements began in 1939. The share who say they sometimes drink too much has fallen to 13 percent, compared with 35 percent in 1989.
📉 Suicides in the EU have fallen by almost 15 percent in ten years
The suicide rate in the EU fell from 12.2 to 10.4 per 100,000 residents between 2013 and 2023. The rate continued to decline between 2022 and 2023, from 10.6 to 10.4 per 100,000. The EU is investing more than €1.2 billion in mental health.
🛩️ Self-flying plane crosses the US without the pilot needing to step in
An aircraft equipped with Joby Aviation's autonomy technology flew more than 3,100 miles across the United States without the pilot on board needing to intervene at any point. The aircraft handled taxiing, takeoff, navigation and landing on its own throughout the journey.
💥 Driverless cars crash 68 percent less than human drivers
Waymo's driverless robotaxis were involved in 68 percent fewer crashes and 81 percent fewer injury crashes than human drivers, an independent study from IIHS shows. Automatic emergency braking that recognizes pedestrians cuts pedestrian crashes by 27 percent and rear-end crashes by 50 percent.
🧒 Children developed better as air got cleaner, 20-year study shows
Children in New York scored higher on tests of memory, problem-solving and language as air pollution declined. Levels of fine particles and nitrogen dioxide in the city halved between 1998 and 2016.
🧠 Meningitis deaths among young children have fallen by two thirds since 1990
Since 2015 alone, the meningitis mortality rate has dropped by 25.4 percent, and it is falling in every age group. Vaccines against the bacteria that cause the disease account for a large part of the decline.
🥬 Fully automated farm in Norway cuts food waste with lettuce that lasts 12 weeks
No human touches the lettuce in the facility outside Oslo, from sowing to the finished package in the store. Shelf life increases from 2 to 4 weeks to 12 weeks, which reduces waste in stores. The growing takes place indoors year-round, without pesticides and without imports.
🚇 Delhi's subway has grown past New York's and cost less than one of New York's tunnels
In March, Delhi's subway became longer than New York's, at a total cost of roughly $10 billion, less than New York spent to build a 3.5-mile tunnel. The system is 33 percent solar-powered, captures brake energy in batteries, and 99.9 percent of its trains ran on time last year.
🌱 Galápagos plant that was down to six individuals is recovering
In 2007, only six Galápagos snapdragon plants remained. Today, 28 adult plants grow at two sites on Isabela island. In 2024, the plant returned to Caleta Tagus, where the only known specimen was collected in 1962.