Robots on the battlefield
The U.S. military has deployed about 3,500 robots to search for bombs or enemy soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and 750 have been badly damaged or destroyed by bombs, rockets, or bullets—a rough estimate of how many soldiers’ lives would have been lost without them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The cost of re-election campaigns
The average member of the House of Representatives has to raise $367 for every hour they’re supposedly serving their constituents to pay for their re-election campaigns. The average senator needs to wrangle $819 per hour.
Mother Jones
Foreign students favor American colleges
American colleges and universities had 56,976 undergraduates from China enrolled in the 2010–11 academic year, up from 9,955 just three years earlier. For all the criticism of U.S. colleges, they remain the most popular foreign destination for high-achieving students from around the world.
CNN.com
A dearth of abortion providers
Nearly nine in 10 U.S. counties now have no abortion providers.
TheAtlantic.com
Who is the fattest of them all?
Taken cumulatively, the world population is 16.5 million tons overweight, with Americans easily topping the scales. If everyone on the planet had the same average weight as Americans, it would be equivalent to having 935 million additional people on Earth.
BBC.com
A record low for the New York Archdiocese
The New York Archdiocese ordained only one new Catholic priest this year—the lowest number since the archdiocese opened its seminary more than 110 years ago.
The New York Times
-
Helsinki's year of zero road fatalitiesUnder the Radar Finland's 'Vision Zero' safety strategy 'shifts responsibility for crashes from road users to the designers of the road system'
-
Critics' choice: Outstanding new Japanese restaurantsFeature An all-women sushi team, a 15-seat listening bar, and more
-
Why do Dana White and Donald Trump keep pushing for a White House UFC match?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The president and the sports mogul each have their own reasons for wanting a White House spectacle
-
Obama vetoes aid to Syrian rebels, and morefeature President Obama nixed a plan to arm the Syrian rebels in 2012.
-
The cost of the financial crisis, and more
feature The financial crisis may cost the U.S. almost $13 trillion.
-
Suicide deaths surpass battle deaths, and more
feature More active-duty U.S. troops have committed suicide this year than have been killed in battle.
-
Iraq's war widows, and more
feature After two decades of war and civil conflict, about 1.5 million Iraqi women are widows, a new study says.
-
The hottest year ever? and more
feature In Iraq, where U.S. troops patrol in heavy armor, the temperature topped 126 degrees in July.
-
More veterans, Harry Potter off best-seller list
feature The number of disabled veterans has jumped by 25 percent since 2001, to 2.9 million. With tens of thousands of Iraq war veterans coming home with such injuries as multiple amputations, brain damage, and burns, the federal government expects to be
-
Consequences of war, Longer flight times
feature About 300,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—18 percent of those who have served—are suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a comprehensive new Rand Corp. analysis. More than hal
-
Promoting senators, Texting 101, Foreign tourists
feature Whether Democrats choose Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama to face Sen. John McCain in November, it will mark the first presidential election in the nation’s history pitting two sitting U.S. senators agai