Suicide deaths surpass battle deaths
More active-duty U.S. troops have committed suicide this year than have been killed in battle. There have been 154 suicides among troops through last week—an average of one a day—compared with 124 U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan.
Article continues belowThe 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.
Driving and texting reaches epidemic proportions
About 58 percent of high school seniors admit to texting while driving, according to a new study of 15,000 teens. Texting and cellphone use behind the wheel is “a national epidemic,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Associated Press
Japanese dock washes ashore in Oregon
A 66-foot-long dock from Misawa, Japan, sucked out to sea by the March 2011 tsunami, washed ashore near Newport, Ore., last week. Japanese scientists estimate that 1.5 million tons of debris from the tsunami is floating in the Pacific, and it has begun showing up on U.S. shores.
Los Angeles Times
Pirated downloads of Thrones
The HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, which is popular among teens and young adults, averages 3.9 million pirated downloads per episode—more than the 3.8 million people who watch the show legally on HBO.
Gizmodo.com
High-performing students try ADD drugs
A growing number of high-performing high school students are illegally using stimulant medication prescribed for attention-deficit disorder, in hopes of enhancing their tests and grades. Some doctors say that up to 40 percent of students at competitive schools are abusing these drugs.
The New York Times