Since 1990, cancer mortality in the United States has dropped by a dramatic 23 percent, and research shows that prevention efforts like more and better screenings and public education around risk factors like smoking can take credit for much of that progress. V.P. Biden's discussion with cancer experts such as NIH director Francis Collins and Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, now president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies touched on the promise of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to help find new ways to tackle cancer.

Ferida Wolff writes: Didn't last year seem to fly by? Time to take stock of things. Not to make resolutions, necessarily, as they rarely last through the year, but to see what is of value in our lives, to appreciate the people we love, and to move in positive directions. Do we respect ourselves? Are there things we'd like to change?

Actress Donna Murphy, who plays family matriarch Jane Green in Mercy Street: "I have played characters in this particular period before, so that was helpful. I've been in the corset and the hoop before. I know both what that feels like and what the etiquette and the sort of protocol of the time was in regard to many of the exterior elements. But I have never in over 30 years in the business been given that kind of customized material, particularly in a television film project."

Rose Madeine Mula writes: If the hullabaloo continues to escalate, the next generation of toddlers will be wearing hearing aids to pre-school where they will learn sign language. Talking will become obsolete since we won't be able to hear what anyone says, music will just be something people will read about in history books, and silent movies will make a big comeback. There will be no need to buy costly quadraphonic sound systems, and cars will be less expensive because they won't have radios or horns.

If the population shift continues, Texas could gain three new seats in the US House, Florida two, and Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Oregon one apiece after the next census, according to an analysis by Election Data Services, a political consulting firm based in Virginia. Nine states — Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia — could meanwhile lose a seat apiece.

The ordinary wooden toy achieved new recognition as an agent in the training and educating of children, as an emblem of Swedish handicraft, and finally as a symbol of Sweden itself. Swedish Wooden Toys shows that from the handmade objects of the rural farmstead to the mass-produced products of major firms, Swedish toys not only reflect but also inform the changing social and cultural values of their time.

Dr. Marvin Seppala says addicts who want abstinence-based treatment should get it. But, he said, medication should be offered. Like other addiction doctors, Seppala stresses that medication should be combined with counseling and group therapy whenever possible. Given the horrific toll of the drug epidemic, "We ought to put everyone on some sort of medication and give them all the psychosocial counseling we can," he said.

I have made only one friend in my building. In my old neighborhood, I knew nearly every family on my block. I watched kids grow from babies to teens. In my apartment building, which is more like a dorm because of its thirty-something population, I have made only one good friend. She's the age of my daughters, and cares for me and makes me laugh just as my flesh-and-blood do. I miss owning a dog. Although my building allows pets, and there are many I can coo at, I pine for a pup.

"Armed takeovers cannot be tolerated in our country. Respect for the rule of law is, and must continue to be, a central tenet of our democracy" said Stanford professor David Hayes, a former official at the Interior Department serving there as the deputy secretary and chief operating officer. Dwight Hammond Jr. and son, Steven Hammond were convicted three years ago of setting fires in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the US Bureau of Land Management. They had grazing rights leased to them for their cattle operations in the area.

"Because we all must do our part to keep our communities safe, the Administration is also calling on States and local governments to do all they can to keep guns out of the wrong hands and reduce gun violence. It is also calling on private-sector leaders to follow the lead of other businesses that have taken voluntary steps to make it harder for dangerous individuals to get their hands on a gun. In the coming weeks, the Administration will engage with manufacturers, retailers, and other private-sector leaders to explore what more they can do." 

Where it might go: Downton might go the way of so many of the era's grand houses: sold whole or piecemeal, requisitioned, or simply diminished into bleak oblivion. Or, in Lady Mary's capable hands, it might endure, survive, and remain one of England's great seats of heritage, aristocracy, and — of course — drama. After five seasons of secrets and scandals, love and heartbreak, witticisms and will-they-won't-theys, Downton Abbey: The Final Season is about to begin.

From the Federal Reserve: In this essay, we focus on changes in the age distribution of long-term unemployment (LTU), the component of unemployment that grew to prominence during the Great Recession and its aftermath. In particular, we consider the differences between unemployed male and female workers. We also compare years before and after the Great Recession.

Rose Madeline Mula writes: Am I glad I didn't live in Babylonia 4,000 years ago; the New Year celebration lasted eleven days. By the eleventh day, the Babylonians must have had prodigious hangovers. They probably weren't even fully conscious for the first month of the new year. That's not for me. It would mean missing all those great post-holiday sales.

Knitters of the web rejoice: TECHknitting can elevate your skills and answer your questions. In 1845, two ships left England to explore the Canadian Arctic, locate a northern route to China and gather geomagnetic data. Both ships and 129 men disappeared. Ars Technica will be interesting for technology news, policy analysis, scientific advancements, gadget reviews, software, hardware. Recent Neurologica posts examine the neural correlates of delayed gratification, the nature of irrational fears and thoughts on the possibly holographic nature of the universe. 15 chapters take readers from the advent of the American railroads in the 1820s, through the golden age of the 1880s and 1890s to the 1980s and onward.

Patients have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke up to three months after being diagnosed with shingles, according to a new study conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The research, published in PLOS Medicine, showed the risk is greatest during the early stages of shingles, with a 2.4 fold increase in the rate of stroke and a 1.7 fold increase in the rate of heart attacks in the first week after shingles, compared to time periods when the patient did not have recent shingles.

The wealth of US families plunged as home prices began a rapid descent in 2006. By 2013, overall median wealth had decreased to $82,756, a loss of 40% in the space of just six years. Almost all of this erasure took place from 2007 to 2010, but there was no sign of a recovery from 2010 to 2013. Over the entire span from 1983 to 2013, the median wealth of US families was up only 6%.

When it comes to licensing, the nursing profession works almost exactly the way it does with driving a car — at least in half the states. A nurse with a license from one of those 25 states can practice in any other state that has signed on to a reciprocal licensing compact. Contrast that with doctors. A doctor licensed in one state who wants to practice in another still needs a license from the other state but doctors are creating their own multistate compacts.   © The Associated Press Nursing graduates at the University of Texas. In half the states, one state license is all a nurse needs to practice in the others. Several medical professions are moving to license port…

Here are some images from the Institutes gallery that remind us of the winter holidays — and showcase important findings and innovations in biomedical research. Researchers made a snowflake pattern from DNA. They used a method called DNA origami that takes advantage of DNA's natural folding property.

When asked why they have not personally purchased health insurance this year, nearly half of the uninsured (46%) say they have tried to get coverage but that it was too expensive. Relatively few cite other reasons, including 9 percent who say they'd rather pay a fine than pay for insurance. Most of the uninsured (55%) say they plan to get health insurance in the next few months. Some may in fact be in the midst of a brief period without insurance; however, a majority (55%) say that they have been uninsured for at least two years.

Roberta McReynolds writes: I took my husband to a doctor's appointment only to discover they had no record of it. His appointment card was at home, so I couldn't convince the receptionist that we were supposed to be there. She initiated a long, pointless dialogue about the dates of Mike's previous visits. We were just wasting time, so we abandoned our mission. We had passed a stunning orchard on the way through the countryside, and again on our departure, but without a camera. I needed to salvage something from a day that was otherwise doomed by multiple blunders.

Julia Sneden wrote: So instead of over-indulging ourselves this year, we will pass along homemade things and/or family items that have interesting histories, and a book or two (gifts of books are sacrosanct at Christmas). We will also make donations to local organizations that feed the hungry, and fill some of the stockings that the local mall sets out for needy children, hoping that what is a small sacrifice for us will be a blessing to others.

"The Federal Open Market Committee judges that there has been considerable improvement in labor market conditions this year, and it is reasonably confident that inflation will rise, over the medium term, to its 2 percent objective. Given the economic outlook, and recognizing the time it takes for policy actions to affect future economic outcomes, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1/4 to 1/2 percent."

Masterpieces spanning nearly four hundred years from Jan Brueghel the Younger's series devoted to the five senses to Canaletto's celebrated views of Venice; landscapes by innovators ranging from Joseph Mallord William Turner, Paul Cézanne, and Gustav Klimt to David Hockney and Gerhard Richter. Paintings by Thomas Moran, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O'Keeffe, and others provide an American perspective on landscapes at home and abroad.