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How Long We Live: A Global Story of Life, Health, and Change

Ever wondered how long the average person lives these days—and what those years actually look like? Life expectancy isn’t just a number. It’s a mirror of how well a society supports its people—from access to clean water and doctors to education, air quality, and even peace. And the global story? It's been one of steady progress, despite a few hard-hitting setbacks. Between 2000 and 2019, the average life expectancy across the world rose from about 66.8 years to 73.1 years, according to the World Health Organization. That’s over six extra years in less than two decades. Pretty impressive, right? But then came COVID-19, which knocked that number back temporarily. Even so, most of the long-term gains have held strong. Meanwhile, something called healthy life expectancy—basically, how many of those years we live in good health—has also gone up. People aren't just living longer, they’re living better, too. Where People Live the Longest Some places seem to have cracked the code. Ti...

Elephant Diversity and Conservation: Habitat, Species, and Survival

Elephants are amazing creatures, but their world is changing fast. A 2023 map by cartographer Wanmei Liang brings this into focus: it marks every elephant species and subspecies in a different color. (The source data comes from the Elephant Territories project.) In Africa, two species remain : the savanna (bush) elephant and the forest elephant. In Asia, there’s one species – the Asian elephant – split into three main subspecies (Indian, Sri Lankan, and Sumatran). The map shows African savanna elephants in purple, forest elephants in red, Sri Lankan elephants in pink, Indian elephants in orange, and Sumatran elephants in yellow (a lowly known subspecies of Indian elephants of the Borneo elephants is not shown on the map). This visual makes it easy to see where each lives and who they are. In real numbers, all elephant groups are dwindling. Across Africa, an estimated about 400,000–415,000 elephants survive today. Most live in East and Southern Africa (Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya,...

The Hidden Truth About American Life Expectancy

Most people don't realize that turning 75 in America actually means you'll probably live way longer than anyone expected when you were born. The latest Social Security data from 2024 shows a 75-year-old man will likely make it to 86. That's a full 12 years past the original life expectancy of 74. Why does this happen? It comes down to how statisticians crunch these numbers. They take 100,000 hypothetical people and apply real death rates at every age to see who survives year by year. The average age at death becomes the " life expectancy at birth " — but here's where it gets interesting. As Harvard research explains, older adults have already navigated past the biggest risks: infant mortality, accidents, and violence. Think of it like climbing a mountain. The higher you get, the better your odds of reaching the summit become — not because the climb gets easier, but because you've already proven you can handle the difficult terrain below. The numbers tell...

Barbie’s Feet Are Getting Flatter—And It Says a Lot About Us

Barbie’s arched feet have long been a part of her image—tiny, pointed, and forever perched for stilettos. But that’s starting to change. A new study reveals that Barbie’s feet are flattening, and that shift isn’t just about doll design—it reflects a broader change in how we think about women’s fashion and comfort. A team of podiatrists at Monash University analyzed 2,750 Barbie dolls produced between 1959 and 2024. They found that while every single doll in the 1960s had permanently arched feet made to fit high heels, only about 40% of Barbies in the 2020s still have that same foot shape. This shift isn’t random. It follows Barbie’s growing list of careers—astronaut, firefighter, doctor—where practical shoes make a lot more sense than stilettos. This change was even acknowledged in the 2023 Barbie movie. In one early scene, Margot Robbie’s Barbie steps out of her heels and her feet stay arched, just like the classic dolls. But later in the film, her feet flatten out, a visual cue ...

Temperature Records Revealed: What Two World Maps Tell Us About Our Changing Climate

Some parts of the world are like nature's weather rollercoasters. Summers can be blisteringly hot, winters bitterly cold, and the transition between them jarring. If you've ever lived in a place with a continental climate, you know the feeling—sweating through July and piling on five layers by January. Let's take a look at the numbers. In the U.S., the highest temperature ever recorded was 134°F (56.7°C) at Furnace Creek Ranch, California. On the flip side, Prospect Creek, Alaska, reached a bone-chilling -80°F (-62.2°C). That's a jaw-dropping 214-degree Fahrenheit swing. Russia holds an even wider gap, ranging from 113.7°F in Kalmykia to -90°F in Verkhoyansk. The map below, created by Vivid Maps shows the difference between the highest and lowest recorded temperatures by country. That kind of variation doesn't happen by chance—it's the hallmark of a continental climate, where temperature swings can be dramatic. In contrast, places closer to oceans enjoy what...

What Happened to Norway’s Untouched Forests?

Most people picture Norway as a land of deep fjords, quiet pine forests, and crisp, clean air. In many ways, that's still true. But if you look at what’s happened to Norway’s unspoiled, never-logged forests, you get a different story—one that's less known, but worth talking about. From Wild to Managed: A Quick Look Back At the start of the 20th century, large areas of Norway were still wild. Forests stretched across valleys and mountain slopes without roads, logging, or clearings. According to the map about, roughly half of the country’s forest area in 1900 was what they call "urørt nature"—nature left alone. But things changed fast. Logging expanded, and infrastructure crept into areas that had been undisturbed for centuries. By 1940, the untouched forest area had shrunk noticeably. After World War II, Norway’s economy boomed—and so did demand for timber. Bulldozers followed logging roads deep into the woods. By 1988, just a tiny fraction of these forests remained un...