Estimating airstrike casualties, and more

Estimating airstrike casualties

Airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities could kill or injure more than 80,000 people, according to a recent study. The uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, for example, is located on the city’s outskirts; toxic plumes released from a strike would reach the city center within an hour, rapidly killing or injuring as many as 70,000 and exposing more than 300,000 to toxic clouds of radioactive uranium.

Time.com

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The military's “silent epidemic”

One in five female military veterans, and one in 100 male ex-soldiers, screens positive for “military sexual trauma,” according to the Veterans Affairs Department. The Pentagon estimates that 20,000 soldiers are raped by fellow soldiers every year, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta calls sexual assault in the ranks a “silent epidemic.”

National Journal

Banning tennis court grunts

Maria Sharapova’s screeches and grunts on the tennis court have been measured at 101 decibels, or roughly the loudness of a chain saw. The Women’s Tennis Association is now taking steps to ban the distracting practice—but only in the next generation of players.

CSMonitor.com

Defaults on student loans rise

The number of Americans who defaulted on federal student loans rose again last year, reflecting the inability of graduates to find good jobs. Of students whose loans came due after October 2009, 9.1 percent have defaulted—an increase from 8.8 percent in the previous two-year reporting period, and almost double the rate of five years earlier.

The Wall Street Journal