Because climate change is a global phenomenon and its potential effects diverse, understanding the economic impacts is highly complex. Agriculture, fishing, migration, health and tourism could all be affected; in many ways the impacts are likely to be negative, but some could be positive.

Just as nations have different levels of population, industrial and agricultural production, income and education, so they have varied environmental impacts. Such impacts aren’t stable over time: Countries’ use of resources and generation of wastes often rises as production grows, then may fall as cleaner technologies and better environmental practices come into use. While this trend has been theorized, empirical evidence has been mixed.

Globally, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and recently surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of smoking-related mortality. The National Cancer Institute estimates that this year in the U.S., more than 222,000 men and women will be diagnosed with the disease and 157,300 will die. The high mortality rate is in part a consequence of the difficulty in diagnosing the disease. Using chest X-rays, physicians typically discover lung cancers only at an advanced stage.

Joining fraternities and sororities distracts college students from their coursework. A new study suggests students’ grades may suffer and they select easier classes to accommodate Greek activities.

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Jennifer Hayes Clark and Robert Lucas Williams, University of Houston.