25 Things Happening In The World

Today That Many People Don’t Know

About

These are 25 things happening in the world today that many people don’t know
about!

25

Desertification

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/desert-drought-dehydrated-clay-soil-279862/

Many of the world’s deserts are growing larger every year. For example, the Sahara
Desert has expanded to the south by another 250 km since 1900. This accounts for
nearly 6000 square km.

24

Flynn Effect

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/brain-turn-on-education-read-book-770044/

On average, humans appear to be getting smarter by about 3 IQ points per year but
scientists aren’t completely sure why.

23

Cancer rates are down

Source: cancer.org, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cancer_button.jpg

Over the last 20 years cancer rates have have fallen by 20% and are still dropping.

22
Palm oil deforestation

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_palm_plantation_in_Cigudeg-03.jpg

Although palm oil isn’t especially healthy for us, large amounts of rainforest are
being cleared in order to grow oil palms.

21

Rise of Africa

Source: wikipedia, theguardian, Image:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_View_of_Sea_Point,_Cape_Town_South_Africa.jpg

Africa is the fastest developing region of the world and it’s not nearly as bad as
many western NGO’s make it out to be. It’s just hard to solicit funds for starving
children without showing you pictures of starving children.

20

Mexican Cartel Wars

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:My_Guns_006.jpg

More than 150,000 Mexicans have died since 2000 due to fighting between drug
cartels.

19

Deadly construction of FIFA World Cup stadium in Qatar

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33019838, Image:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doha_skyline0001.JPG

More than 1000 people have died building the stadium so far but those numbers
don’t typically get published because many of the workers are “immigrants” from
Asia. In fact, several foreign news teams have been arrested for reporting on this.
Note: we say “immigrants” because the working conditions have been compared to
slave labor

18

Facebook's influence on elections

Source: nature.com, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facebook_New_Logo_(2015).svg

For example, Facebook has been shown to improve voter turnout for certain
candidates based on whose “I voted” messages that were displayed.

17

Blood farming

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30273994, https://www.wired.com/2011/06/red-market-excerpt/,

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ics-codablock-blood-bag_sample.jpg

It’s just as crazy as it sounds. People are chained up like slaves and “milked” for
their blood. This has been a growing problem in poorer countries like India. One
particularly famous case came to be known as the Blood Factory by the Indian
media. A farmer named Papu Yadhav was found to be holding numerous slaves on
his property and bleeding them twice a week for over 2 years. But Papu wasn’t
alone. There were even nurses, accountants, and delivery men involved in the blood
farming ring. Sadly this type of blackmarket tends to flourish in poverty stricken
countries where hospitals are overburdened.

16

Bees

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Honey_bee_(Apis_mellifera).jpg

They’re dying. Maybe not as fast as the media makes it sound, but their population
is nevertheless decreasing at an alarming rate.

15
Antibiotics are failing

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheeppurple/3060243118

Since they are often used unnecessarily (on livestock for example), bacteria are
slowly becoming resistant.

14

Internet shills

Source: bbc, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/internet-global-earth-communication-1181587/

Many of the comments you read on news websites, social media platforms, and
forums are actually people being paid to spread subversive messages online.

13

Machine learning

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Computers_chips_circuits.jpg

It is advancing faster than anybody expected. Computers are actually able to learn
and reprogram themselves. If it sounds science fictiony…it is. Google’s deep
learning AI just beat the world Go champion. That was something we didn’t think
would happen for at least another 100 years (Go is the most complex game ever
created. It is significantly more complex than chess and it is impossible for even a
computer to calculate all possibilities. It requires something that up until now we
thought was distinctly human….instinct)

12

Designer babies

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sleeping_baby_with_arm_extended.jpg

Because Asian countries like China and India have less public opposition to genetic
modification and gene editing, they are likely to make use of CRISPR for the
purpose of creating designer babies. This means that China could potentially have
“enhanced humans” in the near future. That doesn’t bode too well for the west in
terms of competition.

11

Refugees

Source: wikipedia, Image:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20151030_Syrians_and_Iraq_refugees_arrive_at_Skala_Sykamias_Lesvos_
Greece_2.jpg

There are more refugees today than there have ever been in history. Taking only
Syria into account, nearly 4 million people have either been killed or fled the country.
That’s one fifth of the population.

10

Big banks

Source: ft.com, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/finance-facade-mirroring-building-108655/

The big banks are doing pretty much the same stuff they did that caused the Great
Recession in 2008, it’s just got a different name…CDO or Collateralized Debt
Obligation.

Military suicides

Source: telegraph.co.uk, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/soldiers-military-usa-weapons-war-1002/

More British soldiers die of suicide than in battle. This military suicide trend can be
found in many other countries as well.

8
Slavery

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/missy-and-the-universe/3474613950

There are nearly 30 million slaves in the world. That is more than at any other point
in human history.

Coltan mining

Source: longreads.com, Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hands-coffee-smartphone-technology-4831/

Most phones require an ore called coltan and the largest source of coltan comes
from mines on the Rwandan border. Unfortunately, a lot of this coltan is harvested
using brutal slavery methods.

America's infrastructure is "greater" than you think

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/19/good-news-americas-infrastructure-is-
now-5-percent-less-shoddy/, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hiawatha_Line-Government_Plaza.jpg

It is actually improving (particularly in the areas of rail and road), contrary to what
you would think if you only read the American Society of Civil Engineers report card
(D+).

Detroit

Source: nytimes, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/detroit-downtown-city-architecture-1819179/

This may sound trivial, but in light of recent events it’s worth pointing out that
downtown Detroit is actually a really nice place with tons of cafes, restaurants, and
places to go. It’s only the areas right outside downtown that are rundown.

4
Self driving cars

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/romanboed/9572198632

They are poised to massively reduce the number of traffic related fatalities

Toddlers with guns

Source: http://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/, Image:

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=21689

Every year, more people are killed by toddlers with guns than by terrorists.

Nuclear energy

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuclear_Power_Plant_Cattenom.jpg

Due to recent advances in technology, nuclear power is actually one of the safest
and cleanest forms of power generation. Unfortunately, the past has caused people
to be very wary of it.

Cow farts

Source: wikipedia, Image: https://pixabay.com/en/cows-cow-austria-pasture-sky-blue-203460/

A majority of greenhouse gas emissions actually come from livestock passing gas.