1 in 31 kids in the US has autism

Roughly 1 in 125 people have autism spectrum disorder globally

The disorder has been increasingly diagnosed as its definition has grown broader and as clinicians have become more adept at identifying it—with some estimates suggesting the figures are much higher. These figures include people across the spectrum, some of whom live mostly independent lives, while others require life-long care and assistance.

Autism rate increases are mostly among those with milder symptoms, not individuals with severe symptoms

Broader case definitions and better screening are typically now detecting more milder cases of autism rather than individuals who have severe impairments (who could be categorized as having profound autism). Profound autism rates, an autism researcher says in this article, have stayed proportionately steady.

The sibling of someone with autism has a 20% chance of developing ASD

The disorder is strongly linked with inheritance, and research suggests that if one child has ASD, there's a one in 5 chance the next child will develop autism, which is seven times more likely than the general population.

Risk factors linked with ASD include older parents, preterm births, and toxic prenatal exposures

Though researchers agree that there is a strong genetic component to ASD development, certain environmental factors heighten that risk, with studies suggesting older parents, premature birth, maternal obesity, and air pollution exposure in utero all elevate risks of ASD development. There is no connection between receiving vaccines and ASD development.

Autism research has faced significant cuts under Trump

One of the largest areas of halted research was at the Department of Education where its Institute of Education Sciences had studies underway focused on developing and evaluating school-based interventions for students with autism. DOE was significantly cut back as part of federal government layoffs.

Roughly 1 in every 4,300 individuals in the US has mitochondrial disease

Roughly 1,000 to 4,000 kids are born with these conditions each year in the US though many of the diseases are fatal. Mitochondrial disorders often affect the organs that require the most energy, including the heart, brain, and muscles.

More than 90% of American deaf children are born to hearing parents

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders have collated top statistics about hearing loss in the US including differences by age, racial groups, and other factors.

In the US, 3.6 million babies were born in 2023

That year, about 40% of the babies were born to unmarried parents, and about 32% of the births were born via cesarean. On average, mothers were 27.5 years old when they had their first child.

Watch this behind-the-scenes interview about the first person ever diagnosed with autism

Two reporters from The Atlantic tell the story behind their effort to track down the first diagnosed autism patient, Donald Gray Triplett, in Forest, Mississippi, and how his life turned out decades later.

Teen depression levels jumped during the pandemic

US government data published in 2025 but gathered from August 2021 through August 2023 indicated that depression prevalence among teens aged 12 to 19 was at 19.2%. It was even higher among females of that age group—26.5%

How many Americans receive government assistance?

In 2022, nearly half of all American children—and roughly one in three Americans overall—were enrolled in at least one government assistance program. Those programs provide support for people who cannot afford healthcare, food, housing, or other needs. Find out more about the number of Americans receiving government assistance here.

US child care costs, mapped

It's no secret that child care in the US is expensive, but this map provides more color to that observation by showing the average annual price of child care in licensed child care centers for infants, by state, in 2023. South Dakota, for instance, had the lowest infant child care cost at $7,862 per year. See how the rest of the states fared here.

Aurea is the first US baby born following polygenic analysis

The child, born in May 2020, was selected by her parents to optimize for certain health qualities based on an analysis of her multifactorial genes by a New Jersey-based company called Genomic Prediction. Her embryo was selected for implantation based on polygenic risk scores for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

US cancer mortality rates have been falling for 25 years

The American Cancer Society's "Cancer Facts & Figures 2025" report provides comprehensive statistics on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival rates in the United States. Cancer rates in the US continued a long-running downward trend, driven primarily by a steep drop in lung cancers (mostly from a decrease in habitual smoking) and better preventative monitoring. This site leads to incredibly in-depth reports and slides on the current state of the fight against cancer.

Visualizing the year in US tornadoes, 2024

Between January and November 2024, over 1,700 tornadoes were documented to have touched down in the US, a relatively high number (and similar to the numbers in 2004, 2008, and 2011). This map shows their location across the country to help capture the number.

One-third of kids with food allergies report being bullied because of it, surprising parents

Research published in 2021 surveyed how more than 100 kids with food allergies were treated by their peers. About one-third of the surveyed kids had their allergies used against them. Bullying tactics included that their allergens were sometimes intentionally put in their food or thrown at them. Parents usually had no idea this bullying was happening.

Mental illness in the US costs roughly $282B annually nationwide

That figure, estimated as part of a 2024 Yale analysis that aimed to better understand the macroeconomic implications of mental illness, included the costs of mental health treatment, income loss, and overarching economic setbacks associated with mental illness.

Why are kids increasingly diagnosed with myopia?

According to the World Health Organization, 40% of the world will have myopia—nearsightedness—by 2030. This NPR podcast episode details why people are being diagnosed with myopia at increasingly younger ages. Early onset myopia can lead to...

The US lags behind other developed countries in math and science scores

The Programme for International Student Assessment, administered every three years by the OECD to 15-year-olds, scores US students below the OECD average in math (465 vs. 472) and only slightly above average in science (499 vs. 485). These figures place US pupils in the lower half of developed nations.

10 locally acquired malaria cases were reported in the US in 2023—a surprise

The cases, reported in Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Arkansas, broke a 20-year streak since there had been no reported locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria in the country since 2003, when there was a case in Florida.

Why car insurance rates are skyrocketing

The average annual premium for auto insurance coverage in the US rose 26% in 2024, and rates are only expected to increase. The rate hikes aren’t simply a result of more people getting into crashes. This video explores how a lack of trained auto mechanics, a tighter supply of used vehicles, record healthcare bills, and litigation are contributing to higher monthly insurance bills.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Calculate your chance of success for IVF treatments

The efficacy of in vitro fertilization procedures varies widely based on age, health history, genetics, and more. This CDC calculator provides an estimate of success rates based on your personal information, relying on thousands of reported outcomes across the US.

44 states in the US have implemented ride safety laws

Rides are developed and tested for years before they host passengers. Maintenance teams perform various tests every day before opening coasters to the public. The chances of risk are rare, as exemplified in 2019 when amusement parks saw .8 injuries per million rides.

In 2019, videos on TikTok convinced children they had Tourette syndrome

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, an "outbreak" of Tourette syndrome was attributed to videos from a German TikToker who documented his life with the condition. The children experiencing the symptoms all had the same tics, which experts say was a case of mass sociogenic illness, also referred to as mass hysteria.

This 2022 study is one of the findings that prompted WHO to label aspartame as 'possibly carcinogenic'

This French study analyzed online periodic self-reported food journals from more than 100,000 people for a median of almost eight years and linked aspartame consumption to a roughly 15% increased cancer risk. It found that the people who consumed higher levels of aspartame had elevated cancer numbers—particularly breast and obesity-related cancers.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.