A Galaxy Far, Far Away
7.5: the redshift of light from the farthest-ever confirmed galaxy (it’s so distant, it shows us what was happening just 700 million years after the Big Bang)
21 days: the time these “pillownauts” spent lying in bed to help scientists study the effects of spaceflight on the human body
French Pillownauts Bedresting For ESA
622 megabits per second: the download rate of NASA’s successful Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration—the first time NASA and the moon have communicated via lasers
Lunar Lasercomm Ground Terminal
7.5 mm: the thickness of the new iPad Air
iPad Air
100 feet: the length of the world’s first solar-panel sidewalk
Solar Sidewalk
7 percent: the decrease in a man’s walking speed when he strolls with his girlfriend
$960: the price of the Black Diamond Halo 28 JetForce, a backpack that can save you from an avalanche
Jetforce Technology Backpack
12 years: the apparent age difference between breast tissue near breast tumors and tissue elsewhere in the body
74 percent: the portion of human breast milk samples purchased online that were contaminated with bacteria such as E. coli in a recent study
Breast Test
62 percent: the accuracy with which a new algorithm can predict your ethnicity based on bacteria from under your gums
23,000 years: the age of the world’s oldest boomerang (what makes boomerangs come back?)
82 feet: the distance at which Russia’s new amphibious assault rifle can hit a target underwater at a depth of 100 feet
Tula Instrument Design Bureau’s ADS
$10: the cost to turn your smartphone into a digital microscope