Monday, November 4, 2019

Three Discovered Numbers

From the most recent issue of Discover magazine, these three short facts were grouped with some others under a heading called Degrees of Separation:

  • How many cigarette butts do people discard on the ground each year? 4.5 trillion. Ewwwwwwwww.
  • Marijuana use decreased 8 percent among U.S. high school students in states that legalized recreational use. Why? Researchers hypothesize it's because fewer illegal dealers means the drug is harder to come by for those who are under-age.
  • Almost 71,000 U.S. patients with ankle sprains were prescribed opioids during a nine-year study, though they are a not a recommended treatment. That's nearly 12 percent of patients. And of those who had never taken an opioid before, 8.4 percent were still refilling their scrip three months after the sprain. Good job, doctors!

1 comment:

Swanditch said...

Here's another fact

http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/widespread-water-shortage-likely-in-u-s-caused-by-population-growth-and-climate-change/

"By 2071, nearly half of the 204 fresh water basins in the United States may not be able to meet the monthly water demand."

"... the research describes two causes for the projected shortages. The first is that the U.S. will simply have more people. Despite that the average American is using less water, population growth is still expected to increase water demand across most of the country."

Let's keep that population growing!