A Virginia Commonwealth University analysis published in The Milbank Quarterly finds death rates for Americans aged 25-44 jumped 71.2% between 2010 and 2021 — the largest surge of any age group — with drug overdoses multiplying sevenfold since 1999, suicides up 40%, and the US now ranking 38th in global life expectancy. Also: Newser reports on research analyzing Reddit threads from people who pulled back from suicidal thoughts, and the finding is consistent with the UC Berkeley Big Joy Project: small, specific, daily moments of joy — not grand interventions — are what kept people going. And new data from Cornell's Karl Pillemer finds 27% of Americans are estranged from at least one family member, YouGov found 38% as of 2025, and the debate over why it's happening is genuinely contested. Plus a second crane falling on the Florida home, a suspect biting a police dog, the racehorse renamed from Austrian Painter, and a Boeing software glitch.
","author_name":"Keith Conrad"}