Power of Data Visualization

Who knew technology from a video game could solve one of the biggest problems in the world today?

Researchers say countries are happier because of the society and culture around them. The corporate world learned that lesson long ago. A new study conducted by researchers at Gallup surveyed thousands of respondents over 150 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in an attempt to measure two types of well being.

Banknotes on paper.

The world's largest social network announced that it had reached 500m members on Wednesday July 21st. If Facebook were a physical nation, it would now be the third-most populous on earth. And if the service continues to grow as rapidly as in the three months to July, it will reach one billion in about 15 months—almost the size of India.

Scientists have released a global map of forest canopy heights based on NASA data. “Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method,” says the NASA press release. “The work — based on data collected by NASA’s ICESat, Terra, and Aqua satellites — should help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world’s forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere.”

When it comes to American media habits, not even Bob Dylan could have predicted the digital revolution of the past 10 years.

President Barack Obama meets Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, for talks in Washington on July 20th. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and allegations over the company's involvement in an “oil-for-terrorists” deal with Libya are likely to be on the agenda. BP is under pressure to satisfy government officials that the containment cap placed on the leaking well on July 15th is holding. Using the government task force's upper estimate, as many as 4.4m barrels of oil have escaped into the Gulf. This would make it the largest accidental oil spill in history (military attacks have created far bigger spills). Despite that, this quantity of refined oil is enough to keep America's cars and trucks on the road for just a quarter of a day. BP has spent almost $4 billion on clean-up costs to date, with the eventual total estimated at $39 billion.

Murders, rape, kidnappings, civil unrest! These are just a part of the overall study that Forbes included in evaluating the worlds most Dangerous Countries! See who came out on top.