Daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make plastic household items could be linked to more than 356,000 global deaths from heart disease in 2018 alone, a new analysis of population surveys shows. While the chemicals, called phthalates, are in widespread use globally, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific bore a much larger share of the death toll than others — about three-fourths of the total.

A first-of-its-kind study on the link between police budgeting and the housing market seemed to be a dead end — showing practically no relation between the spending on law enforcement and home transaction volume and prices, just like previous studies. But University of Cincinnati economics professor David Brasington found surprising results when he split the data between low-income and high-income communities: large, completely opposite moves in housing prices.