Since 1965, the U.S. has had a nine-fold increase in the number of scientists, while the NIH budget has expanded four-fold. The rate of new drugs hitting the market has not been as strong, but the number has doubled during this span. But life expectancy gains have remained constant at about two months per year. “There is something wrong in the process, but there are no simple answers,” Bowen said. “It may be a confluence of factors that are causing us not to be getting more bang for our buck.”   read more

Grammarly, an automated-proofreading company, evaluated the grammar of those backing the 2016 Republican presidential candidates. The analysis was based on the comments posted on the official Facebook pages of each contender. Trump’s supporters, according to Grammarly, had 12.6 grammar errors per hundred words, which put them dead last. Carly Fiorina’s supporters had the fewest grammar mistakes, with 6.3 errors per hundred words.   read more

“Under this outdated law, mining companies are able to extract billions of dollars of minerals on America’s public lands essentially for free, often with no liability for environmental cleanup,” said Claire Moser of the Center for American Progress. “The Animas spill disaster highlights the broader need for reform of this 143-year-old law to ensure that taxpayers receive a fair share of publicly-owned resources and that mining companies are responsible for cleanup.”   read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics reported last week that the uninsured rate among all Americans in the first quarter of 2015 fell to 9.2%. The nation hasn’t had that low a rate for uninsured people of all ages since 1972, when the NCHS began keeping track of such data. The 9.2% represented 29 million Americans, 7 million fewer than were uninsured in 2014.   read more

All four statues have been targeted for removal by the New Orleans’ Historic District Landmarks Commission due to their portrayals of racist ideologies and qualifying as a site for potential violence. Jindal reacted by saying he would use the state “Heritage Act” to prevent the statues’ removal. However, it turned out there is no such law in Louisiana. However, South Carolina has a law by that name, which had kept the Confederate flag flying until just recently.   read more

OSHA is trying to lower the exposure level to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The proposed rule would also require additional protections. The regulation would apply to about 35,000 workers in the U.S. whose jobs involve exposure to the metal, which is used in the manufacture of aircraft, electronics components, dental implants and nuclear weapons, among other things. The agency estimates the metal causes nearly 250 new cases of beryllium lung disease each year.   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a “general rule” saying agencies could not spend taxpayer dollars to purchase disposable plates, cups and cutlery after the Department of Commerce and a union representing its workers had spent five years fighting over the issue of the agency providing paper plates and plastic utensils The fight began within the National Weather Service (NWS).   read more

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, from 1999 to 2011, Native Americans comprise 1.9% of police killings—legal interventions in official terms—but only 0.8% of the U.S. population. The same set of statistics, analyzed by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, showed that African Americans, 26% of the population, accounted for 13% of the people killed by police.   read more

As of June 30, the agency had issued 397,000 licenses to undocumented applicants out of a total of 759,000 people this year. By the end of July, the numbers were 443,000 licenses to undocumented immigrants out of a total of 883,000 licenses issued in 2015. The DMV expects to issue 1.5 million licenses to undocumented immigrants within three years. California is home to more undocumented immigrants than any other state, with approximately 3 million of them.   read more

The astronauts planned to eat half of their harvest and save the rest for packaging, freezing and sending back to Earth for testing. “Tastes good. Kinda like arugula,” astronaut Scott Kelly said. And just because they are hundreds of miles up from the nearest Whole Foods, they didn’t have to eat plain lettuce. The astronauts dressed their salad with extra virgin olive oil and Italian balsamic vinegar. The plant experiment, called Veg-01, was designed by Orbital Technologies Corp.   read more

Not only are “mega-fires” occurring more often, but the fire season itself has gotten longer—by 78 days since 1970. Additionally, the total number of acres burned each year has doubled since the 1980s. Things are expected to get only more challenging for the agency when it comes to forest fires as a result of climate change. The worst fire seasons on record have all occurred since 2000, and last year the country’s 10 biggest fires cost the Fire Service $320 million, according to the agency.   read more

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Planned Parenthood with a 45% positive rating among Americans. Thirty percent viewed the organization negatively. None of the presidential contenders came close to 45%. Hillary Clinton managed a 37% positive rating. But that was outdone by her 48% negative rating. On the Republican side, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump got a 26% positive score. But their negatives, too, were much higher (40% and 56%, respectively).   read more

“Barack Obama deserves the ‘Gun Salesman of the Decade’ award,” said Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America, “People have been rushing to buy firearms because they’re afraid that Obama will take away their Second Amendment rights.” In fact, the gun boom is the result of scare tactics employed by the gun industry, says gun safety advocates. “The gun lobby seizes on those fears and uses scare tactics and doomsday rhetoric in order to sell more guns,” said Mark Prentice.   read more

HitchBot, a hitchhiking robot, spent considerable time wandering across Canada and Europe without trouble. But it took only a couple weeks in the U.S. for the robot to meet a violent end. While traveling through Philadelphia, hitchBot had its head, arms and legs torn off. “It was quite a setback, and we didn’t really expect it,” Frauke Zeller, one of hitchBOT’s creators, told CNN. “We were spoiled by the kindness of other people who had looked after hitchBOT.”   read more

Under the proposal drafted by the Dept. of Labor, workers would be allowed to use the paid sick leave for themselves or to care for family members, including parents, children, spouses and domestic partners. “It would apply to absences from work resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, if that time was used to seek medical attention, obtain counseling, seek relocation assistance from victim services organizations or prepare civil or criminal proceedings,” wrote the Times.   read more

Gallup was named in a class-action lawsuit for violating a law that prohibits making making “any call . . . using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice.” Gallup denied having done this, but settled the suit for $12 million. The settlement may now cause Gallup and other polling firms to think twice before calling mobile phone users. Those who use mobile phones exclusively include many young people and Latinos. That group also tends to skew Democratic.   read more