“Half a million people are dead who should not be dead.” That sums up the startling findings of a new review of life expectancy statistics. In advanced nations, life expectancy generally goes up. But for a group of middle-aged, white Americans with less than a college education, the trend has been reversed. And according to the study’s Nobel prize-winning co-author Angus Deaton, “Drugs and alcohol, and suicide . . . are clearly the proximate cause.”

+ The Awl with a look at the voluntary human extinction movement: Live Long and Die Out. “Since humans are responsible for every environmental catastrophe, maybe the planet would be better off if we all just died.” (That perfectly summarizes the look on my cat’s face.)