The teen pregnancy rate has dropped 25% in recent years. Here's why.

A massive change happened for a really obvious reason.

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Here's some good news: The U.S. teen pregnancy rate has been on a steady decline since 2007. And the reason why shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

A new study by the Guttmacher Institute shows that from 2007 to 2011, teen pregnancy rates dropped by a whopping 25% across the U.S. The study, which surveyed women ages 15 to 19, found that while respondents' sexual activity rates didn't change, one very important thing did: contraception use.

Image by Guttmacher Institute.

“Our new data suggest that recent declines in teens’ risk of pregnancy — and in their pregnancy rates — are driven by increased contraceptive use," concludes study author Dr. Laura Lindberg.

In 2015, Colorado released its own data showing that a state program providing free long-term contraception led to a 40% drop in its teen pregnancy rate.

After all, that's pretty much the whole purpose of contraception: to reduce the chance of getting pregnant. It turns out that when contraception is more affordable and easier to get, people are more likely to use it. Even better, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, most forms of birth control are now available without an insurance co-pay.

GIF from "The Daily Show."

The undeniable truth is this: Abstinence-only education doesn't work.

Proponents of abstinence-only education argue that the only true way to eliminate the unintended teen pregnancy rate is for teens not to have sex. And they're right — in the same way that the only way to eliminate fatal car accidents is to not drive. Knowing this, we still teach teens how to drive cars, just as we should teach them the basics about safe sex.

GIF from "Mean Girls."

But what does abstinence-only education have to do with this? A government study found that students who received abstinence-only sex education were more likely to not use (or to incorrectly use) contraceptives, were more likely to end up with unintended pregnancies, and were more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections.

As of September 2016, just 18 states and the District of Columbia require sex-ed courses to include information on contraception. There's a lot of room to improve.

Earlier this year, President Obama proposed eliminating federal funding for abstinence-only education programs for the 2017 annual budget. Over the past 25 years, the federal government has spent close to $2 billion on abstinence-only programs despite the fact that there's no science backing up their effectiveness. Obama's push to cut off the last $10 million a year going to these programs coincided with his allocation of $4 million to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.

President Obama and then-Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discuss contraceptive coverage for workers in 2012. Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

Whether state legislatures will take action to require schools to teach comprehensive sex education in high school classrooms remains to be seen, but the mountain of evidence highlighting those programs' successes continues to grow.

Want to see that teen pregnancy rate continue to decline? Then write your representatives and senators on the state and national levels. Let them know this is important to you.

Improved access to knowledge and resources to prevent unwanted pregnancies is a position we should all be able to get behind.

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3 eye-opening quotes from the CEO who raised the price on EpiPens.

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In August 2016, pharmaceutical company Mylan became the latest health company to fall under fire for price gouging.

Over the course of seven years, they'd carefully managed to inflate the list price of EpiPen by nearly 500%, along with price-hikes on more than 30 other products too. That's pretty absurd, considering that some people, including fellow pharmaceutical-makers, say EpiPen ingredients are inexpensive and the pen can cost less than $20 to make. Plus, EpiPen already accounts for 40% of Mylan's operating profits.

At the height of this debacle, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch spoke with CNBC to offer insights on the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry. And her answers actually revealed a lot about health care in America.

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch. Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

1. "This isn't an EpiPen issue. This isn't a Mylan issue. This is a health care issue," she said, when asked about government regulations.

There's a whole lot of shady business going on in the health care industry right now, and it's not limited to Mylan.

There was the Turing Pharmaceutical's infamous 5,000% overnight price hike on Daraprim in December 2015, and KV Pharmaceuticals cornered the market on a drug to help prevent premature births and then slapped a markup on it of more than 1,000%. More recently, pharma company Valeant jacked up the price of some generic heart medications it had acquired by up to seven-fold or more.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

2. When an anchor pointed out the bad headlines on Mylan, she responded, "We have given out 700,000 free EpiPens. We stocked 65,000 public schools in this country. ... We're now passing legislation,  30 states to have them in restaurants, hotels."

She also said, "We want everyone who needs an EpiPen to have one."

On the surface level, this is good, right? But it starts to get messy when you look a little closer.

Mylan has already spent millions of dollars in lobbying under the auspices of improving education and awareness about anaphylactic shock. As a result, they've managed to get federal guidelines rewritten to make EpiPens available to anyone, instead of just those with dangerous allergies, and have pushed to require schools and soon also restaurants and hotels to carry the treatment.

For those at risk for deathly allergies, this increased presence of EpiPen is certainly a good thing.

Photo Illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

But it's even better for Mylan, which not only gets to increase its customer base, but also receives a generous tax break for all of those EpiPen donations. Combined with their recent corporate move to the Netherlands, this means that Mylan now pays a distinctly low U.S. federal tax rate.

And that's with you buying EpiPens at a 500% markup.

Photo by Lucas Trieb/AFP/Getty Images.

3. So how do you fix the problem? Bresch's advice was this: "Patients need to get engaged in their health care. [...] There's no transparency, there's no clarity, and no one knows what anything costs."

She went on to say, "Anytime you're shopping for anything, you know what that product is going to cost when you walk up to the counter. Only in health care ... do you walk up to that pharmacy counter, you could have paid $25 yesterday and you're paying $600, $1,000, $2,000."

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

Health care costs are muddled, confusing, and seem to change arbitrarily. Even with the regulations that have been put in place by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. health care system still feels like a mysterious labyrinth where a wrong turn can lead you into either a gold mine or a terrifying confrontation with a surly minotaur.

And if you do have the time, energy, and brain space required to engage more closely with your health care? You're often straddled with a choice between no transparency or being inundated with too much confusing information to make an informed decision.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

Yes, the U.S. health care system is still messed up. But the answer to the problem is not to exploit the people who are paying out of pocket.

The problem here isn't consumers or Obamacare or the distribution supply. It's greed. And this time around, Mylan is responsible for the mess.

So what can we, the consumers, do about it? Maybe it's time we listened to Bresch and really got informed and engaged with our health care — by refusing to buy from companies like Mylan whenever there's an option. Then we can reach out to our congresspeople and tell 'em to get their act together.

It might not sound like much, but it's a start.

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FWIW: Mylan did ultimately agree to offer a half-price alternative to their overpriced EpiPen — but that's half off of a 500% markup that already brings in a crazy profit. And lucky them, they're probably going to make an even bigger profit by creating their own EpiPen competitor because it means they'll all but run the market and can continue changing prices whenever they see fit.

And in my humble opinion? That's not OK.

Grandparents are the best. These new findings about their health will make you happy.

There's now scientific evidence that suggests kids spending time with their grandparents is good for their health.

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After waking up to rooster crows and being treated to pancakes made from scratch, my grandmother would help me get dressed for our mini-adventures around town.  

Some of my fondest memories are of that time spent out and about with my grandmother in Nogales, Mexico. Little did I know at the time, there were great health benefits to our time spent together, too.

Listen up, parents! Now there's scientific evidence suggesting quality time with the grandkids has incredible health benefits for both grandma and grandpa.

Photo by Norman Smith/Fox Photos/Getty Images.

For the first time ever, researchers looked at how grandparenting has an effect on cognition. The study — conducted by The Women's Healthy Aging Project in Australia  — observed 186 grandmothers who took care of their grandkids. The results were both surprising and awesome.

The study found that grandmothers who spent one day a week looking after their grandkids were more likely to offset dementia and had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's. Apparently, keeping up with the kiddos and answering their sometimes endless questions helps keep their memory sharp by increasing their brain function. Way to go, kids!

The study also found that a healthy grandparent-grandkid relationship helps prevent social isolation, which can lead to depression and sometimes even an earlier death. So by spending more time with grandma or grandpa, you're actually helping to keep them sharp, healthy, happy, and maybe even extending their life.

Photo by J. Duckworth/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

There's also good news for grandkids.

Initial data from the Institute on Aging at Boston College show that a strong grandchild-grandparent bond can offset depressive tendencies for both parties.

The study, which observed 376 grandparents and 340 kids over a span of 19 years (from 1985 to 2004), found that the closer the grandparent-child relationship was, the less likely either was to experience depression. If that's not a major incentive to spend more quality time with Gramps, I don't know what is.

There is one drawback cited in this most recent study that could prove to be convenient when grandma doesn't want to commit to long-term babysitting.

While it's beneficial for grandparents to care for their grandkids one day a week, it's not beneficial to their health to watch them for five days or more per week. Researchers found hanging out with the rug rats too much may affect their grandparent's memory and their ability to process information faster, leading to lower cognition.  

While most of us adore our grandparents, it's important we know how our interactions affect their health. While we may feel like we have all the energy in the world, they may not. We should be informed about how much time with the kids is OK and when it's best to relieve them of their grandparenting duties.

Photo by Val Rodriguez/AFP/Getty Images.

Fostering a fulfilling relationship between kids and their grandparents is a beautiful thing. Who better to teach kids about themselves and their family history? This relationship is crucial.

This study offers a win-win situation for parents who want their kids to build lasting, meaningful relationships with their grandparents. Hey, it could also be a great excuse for finally having that date night!

So parents, feel free to ask grandma and grandpa to watch the kids — and to feel good about it — because you're also helping to keep them sharp and healthy. But remember that, like in most things in life, everything is best in moderation.

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Read a mom's heartfelt thank-you to the football player who ate lunch with her son.

'I'm not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I'm happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten.'

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Bo Paske, a sixth-grader at Montford Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, knows what a social minefield a school cafeteria can be.

Eating lunch at school can be the most challenging part of a kid's day, especially if they're not like other kids. Aside from entering one of the most difficult life transitions (puberty), Bo is on the autism spectrum and sometimes makes erratic movements or suddenly says strange things.

Kids eating lunch. Image via iStock.

In a Facebook post by "Love What Matters," Bo's mom Leah explains that he is often teased by his classmates and tends to eat lunch by himself. She knows this because it's one of the questions she always asks him when he comes home from school.

Most days, she writes, the answer is "nobody."

Earlier this week, however, Bo had a very special lunch buddy — someone Leah never could've seen coming.

When Florida State University football players visited Montford, FSU wide receiver Travis Rudolph made a point of sitting with Bo when no one else was.

Leah was not even aware who Rudolph was, but when a friend shared the picture with her, she was overcome with joy and had to find a way to express her gratitude.

She wrote an incredibly heartfelt post on Facebook to explain how meaningful this small gesture was, and she shared it, along with the photo of Bo and Rudolph eating lunch together:

"Several times lately I have tried to remember my time in middle school, did I like all my teachers, do I even remember...

Posted by Love What Matters on Tuesday, August 30, 2016

In the post, she wrote about her anxiety for Bo's happiness in middle school:

"Now that I have a child starting middle school, I have feelings of anxiety for him, and they can be overwhelming if I let them. Sometimes I'm grateful for his autism. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but in some ways I think, I hope, it shields him. He doesn't seem to notice when people stare at him when he flaps his hands. He doesn't seem to notice that he doesn't get invited to birthday parties anymore. And he doesn't seem to mind if he eats lunch alone. It's one of my daily questions for him. Was there a time today you felt sad? Who did you eat lunch with today? Sometimes the answer is a classmate, but most days it's nobody. Those are the days I feel sad for him, but he doesn't seem to mind."

And she addresses Rudolph directly with a message of gratitude:

"I'm not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I'm happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten. This is one day I didn't have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone, because he sat across from someone who is a hero in many eyes. Travis Rudolph thank you so much, you made this momma exceedingly happy, and have made us fans for life!"

As for Rudolph's decision to sit with Bo?

"I saw him sitting there by himself and I got a plate of pizza and I asked him, can I sit with him, and he said, 'Sure, why not.'" Rudolph told People of his gesture.

As a parent, it's easy to feel powerless when your kid has trouble making friends in school. Kids can be fickle and kids can be cruel, but when one person goes out of their way to show kindness to someone who might not see much of it otherwise, it sets an example that everyone else can follow.

Does it mean that tomorrow Bo's lunch table will be filled with his classmates? Maybe. Maybe not. But if even one other kid in his class follows Rudolph's lead, that's a win.

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Tired of being humiliated, these girls fought the school dress code. And won.

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Four middle-schoolers sat at the podium. Poised. Confident. Ready to challenge the Portland Public Schools board on its dress code.

Four students from Portland, Oregon, testified in front of the board in May 2015. Image via PPS Communications/YouTube.

Alisa, a seventh-grader, told a story of a friend who was pulled aside one day for wearing a skirt deemed to be too short. The friend sat in the principal's office for hours while the staff tried to get ahold of her parents. She missed important classwork, and worse yet, felt humiliated by the ordeal.

"The only reason I go to school is to get my education," Alisa told the board. "When I get dressed in the morning, my intention is not to provoke or be sexualized. My intention is to feel comfortable in my own skin."

Sophia, also in seventh grade at the time, spoke last. "My problem with the dress code is that 100% of the students that get sent home are female. ... In a way, you're telling [a girl] that boys are more entitled to their education than she is. And I don't think that's acceptable."

They were absolutely right. Because if you're a preteen or teenage girl in America, you can get a dress code violation for almost anything: showing your midriff, shoulder, collarbone, leg, bra strap, or, in some cases, for just wearing something as harmless as spaghetti straps.

Stephanie Hughes of Kentucky was cited for a dress code violation for this outfit, which sometimes shows her collarbone. Photo by Stacie Dunn, used with permission.

Girls who violate their schools' dress codes are accused of being distractions and are often humiliated in front of their classmates.

They're then either sent home to change (missing valuable class time) or forced to cover up with "shame clothes," like old sweatpants that have been lying around the guidance counselor's office for who knows how long.

This has been a problem for years, and a particularly frustrating one to solve. Almost everyone agrees schools need some kind of dress code, but almost no one can agree on what that should look like.

Deanna Wolf of Alabama says her 11-year-old daughter missed an entire class period simply for wearing leggings and a loose-fitting shirt. Photos by Deanna Wolf, used with permission.

But now, thanks to these brave Portland students and a couple of key community members, we might finally be making some progress.

The school board, to the surprise of many, agreed the dress code needed fixing. But that didn't mean it would be easy.

A committee was formed, including Sophia (one of the girls who testified in front of the board), parents, teachers, and other community leaders. Lisa Frack, president of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization of Women, and a parent, was one of them.

Frack said some issues were easy to fix, like the ban on spaghetti straps. That was quick to go. Others? Not so much.

There was plenty of back-and-forth. Are short shorts OK? How about cleavage? What about all of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) policies that unfairly target students of color?

Marian Wilson-Reed of Texas says her 9-year-old daughter was pulled out of class because school administrators thought her natural hairstyle looked like a mohawk, which was against the rules. Photo by Marian Wilson-Reed, used with permission.

Then there was the issue of enforcement. Although hopefully, with the new dress code, there would be fewer violations, the committee wanted to find ways to eliminate shaming and missed class time for students who broke the rules.

Despite debate on some of these specific issues, Frack said, the conversation always came back to the same basic point.

Some board members "felt like they wanted a little line in there reminding everyone that this is a learning institution. But that's exactly what we're trying to get away from," Frack said. "We don't want to link clothing and learning. ... You can't learn math better or worse whether you have a tie on or a collared shirt or a tank top."

"We're going to basically have people covering what you have to do to not be naked."

The final approved dress code, one of only a few like it in the U.S., was a major improvement. But perhaps just as important was the conversation sparked by the process.

Gone was phrasing that specifically targeted bare midriffs, "plunging necklines," or "sexually suggestive clothing." The new, gender-neutral code essentially asks that students wear a top and a bottom (or a dress), and that their clothes not show profanity or reference drugs.

It's pretty simple. But the conversations that led to this point were anything but.

"It raised the issue of people's discomfort with how girls are objectified in this country. Is it a solution to tell them to cover up?" Frack said. She even recalled some of the adult board members having trouble talking about things like breasts and sexuality with a straight face — which, she said, is part of the problem.

For now, though, Frack just hopes this code can serve as a model to other districts looking to get with the times. Portland just rolled out the new policy in the fall of 2016, so it remains to be seen how it'll fare — especially when the weather gets hot again.

But so far, Frack said, all she's heard from parents is how happy their kids are to be free to be themselves without judgment.

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Thanks to Lisa Frack from Oregon NOW for helping with this story. You can find Oregon NOW's model dress code, which aims to help school districts improve their own policies, here.

Kids' minds are blown in a PSA designed to change the idea that jobs are tied to gender.

Redraw the balance.

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When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A firefighter? A rockstar? What about a veterinarian or a fighter pilot?

While you were dreaming up your future career, did the fact that it typically attracts workers of a certain gender influence you at all? You might be quick to say "no way," but gender stereotypes likely played a part in your development even if you weren't aware of it.

In #RedrawTheBalance, a campaign from Inspiring the Future, a group of kids were asked to draw people in various careers like firefighters or surgeons.

Here's what they drew:

A surgeon.

A fighter pilot.

Notice a trend?

According to several studies, children tend to be more rigid in their gender stereotyping, which may be because they have a more "absolutist sense of rules" than adults do.

Children learn this stereotyping behavior from lots of places — parents, friends, and, of course, the media they consume. Unfortunately, the stereotype that certain jobs are for certain genders still prevails to this day, which is a shame because it means that kids grow up thinking there are certain jobs they can't do because of their gender.

There is good news, however. While young kids are impressionable, that doesn't mean it's too late to correct those impressions — sometimes all it takes is them meeting one person doing one job that doesn't fit a stereotype to change the way they see the world.

That's what happened when these kids get their tiny minds blown when people who do the jobs they illustrated walk into the room and they aren't exactly who they expected to see:

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6 scientists spent a year in isolation for science. They told us what it was like.

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On Aug. 28, 2016, six NASA scientists walked outside for the first time in a full year.

They stepped out, the morning fog just beginning to clear over the barren hills, having spent the last 365 days living in a 36-foot-diameter geodesic dome nestled in the volcanic mountains of Hawaii — the closest Earthly analog for the landscape of the planet Mars.

The longest space travel simulation ever conducted in the United States was complete.

The team emerging from their research habitat in Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Image via University of Hawaii news/YouTube.

Why spend a year in simulated space?

If we ever send human beings to Mars, they'll be on their own for a long time.

Exactly how long depends on the position of the planets, what technology and innovations are in place at the time, and countless other variables, but even the most conservative estimates assume the round-trip-plus mission-time from Earth to Mars will take multiple years.

The HI-SEAS Mission Habitat. Image via University of Hawaii News/YouTube.

The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (or HI-SEAS) was designed to find out exactly what happens to human beings when they're forced to live in a small NASA-designed habitat for an extended period of time with their only walks outside confined to a spacesuit.

"The purpose of it is to find out everything that can go wrong before it does go wrong," Mission Commander Carmel Johnston explained over the phone.

HI-SEAS IV Commander Carmel Johnston. Photo courtesy of Carmel Johnston.

Would there be in-fighting? Depression? Would astronauts start seeing the walls move? NASA needs to know in order to best prepare for future Mars missions.

Think back on the past year — while you were experiencing your everyday life, six researchers were experiencing it (on a delay) from inside a literal bubble.

When the HI-SEAS scientists did receive news from the outside world, it was significantly delayed to simulate the amount of time it would take for information to travel from Earth to Mars. That's a lot of news to be behind on too.

"We’d hear about the terrorism attacks and people dying and all of these terrible things secondhand and way after the fact," recalls Johnston. "So it was still disturbing to hear about them but we couldn’t do anything; we were stuck in the dome not able to help in any way."

Image via University of Hawaii News/YouTube.

Crew member Sheyna Gifford even lost her grandmother while living in the habitat.

"I said goodbye to my grandmother over a delayed video message,” Gifford told the Huffington Post. "That’s not something any of us ever want to do."

The time spent in the HI-SEAS dome wasn't all doom and gloom, however.

"You get into a routine," Johnston said, explaining that the researchers kept themselves busy with daily research tasks, habitat upkeep, meal prep and cooking, regular exercise, and answering emails from family and friends when they could.

Image via NewsBeat Social/YouTube.

And yes, she says, there was plenty of time left for goofing around too.  

Tristan Bassingthwaighte — the crew architect and self-appointed prankster — prides himself on always keeping his fellow crewmates on their toes.

"One of the crew members would always leave their tea out," Bassingthwaighte said, proudly recalling one of his best pranks. "They left it everywhere, usually in the microwave. You’d go to put something in in the morning and knock tea everywhere."

Tristan Bassingthwaighte, resident prankster and "Doctor Who" fan. (Unlike the TARDIS, the dome was unfortunately not bigger on the inside). Photo courtesy of Carmel Johnston.

When that crew member went to bed, Tristan snuck into the kitchen and put the cup of tea in the freezer. Then he snuck back down early in the morning to take it out.

"To this day they're convinced that the temperature dropped below freezing in the habitat," he said, delighted.

Now that they're "back on Earth," the six members of the HI-SEAS experiment will spend the next few days re-adjusting.

They'll be catching up with friends and family and enjoying some long-awaited conversations with people other than each other.

"Any new face or voice is kind of like a little present at this point," Bassingthwaighte said.

Most importantly, they'll be presenting an unprecedented amount of data and findings to NASA from their year-long mission.

Mars. The real one. Photo via NASA/Getty Images.

"What we gave the researchers to look at, for however many months it takes them to analyze the data, is just invaluable," said Commander Johnston. "It’s gonna be so much information and it’s gonna be geared towards helping all the future astronauts."

With a year of simulated martian life under her belt, if given the chance, would Johnston be interested in going to Mars for real?

"If I was asked, I certainly would go," Johnston said of a trip to the red planet. "But I think that my role is gonna be more the supportive role of finding out how to better support astronauts and how to get them the stuff that they need in order to be successful. And I’m OK with that because it’s still super cool."

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