Your choices and preparation reduce the risk, but you do not control whether it happens.
A survey of 422 incarcerated burglars found occupancy, police proximity and a dog outranked alarms and cameras, that only about 12% picked a lock, and that fewer than a third cared about lighting or neighbourhood watch signs. What that means for where the money is worth spending.
Embers are the leading cause of home ignition in wildfire, and they arrive miles ahead of the fire. An ember-resistant buffer halves a home ignition risk, and clearing perimeter vegetation nearly doubles survival odds. Why the first five feet matter more than the next ninety-five, and which measures have evidence behind them.
The FBI warned in May 2025 that end-of-life home routers are being taken over for criminal proxy networks, using malware that needs no password. What attackers actually want is your residential IP address. The eight settings that matter, why the guest network is the highest-value free change, and the backup rule that is the only answer to ransomware.
Children cannot reliably detect a vehicle approaching above 20 mph – a developmental limit, not carelessness. What that means for the school run, the 44% injury reduction Safe Routes to School produced in New York, and why nearly two thirds of school-bus-related child deaths happen outside the bus.
More than three quarters of US pedestrian deaths happen after dark, and fatal night crashes rose 84% in thirteen years. What the IIHS found about tall, flat vehicle fronts, why night-time autobrake still struggles, and the vision research showing the same reflective material works two to five times better on your ankles than on your chest.
Hair cells do not grow back, and the safe exposure time halves with every three decibels. At 100 dBA – earbuds near maximum – the daily allowance is fifteen minutes; venues average 104 to 112 dB. The exposure table, the evidence on temporary threshold shift, and the protection actually worth buying.
Between 20 and 25% of epinephrine administrations in schools are to children with no known allergy — a first reaction, with no care plan. And the delay that turns a frightening afternoon into a fatal one is usually an antihistamine reached for first.
In 2024 the WHO dropped the droplet-versus-airborne distinction that underpinned decades of advice. Exhaled particles behave like smoke, not falling cannonballs — which moves ventilation to the top of the list and surface cleaning near the bottom.
The 2024 Lancet Commission put 45% of dementia cases down to 14 modifiable risk factors. Two were added that year — midlife cholesterol and untreated vision loss. Almost none of the list is something you buy, and no supplement appears on it at all.
Over 400 Americans a year die from carbon monoxide unrelated to fires. The symptoms impersonate flu — but CO causes no fever, affects everyone in the building at once, and eases when you leave the house. What actually distinguishes them.
