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.