An unusual deep-sea jellysfish swims across the remotely operated vehicle's field of view. NOAA Ocean Explorer
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1966: year John Steinbeck wrote a letter to Popular Science arguing for the creation of a NASA for the oceans

65: number of bacteria species the rover Curiosity took on a trip to Mars

16,500 kilometers: diameter of Jupiter’s no-longer-so-Great Red Spot

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29 percent: portion of the American public who deemed animal testing “morally wrong” in 2001; by 2013, it was 41 percent

The scientific community has always had an uneasy relationship with cats and dogs.

$534: cost to grow a kilo of hamburger meat from stem cells

The First Lab-Grown Burger

110 degrees F: temperature at which the flesh-eating Clostridium perfringens culture thrives in bread starter

Infectious Confection

1,460 cups a year: coffee intake of the average Swede, about twice as much as the average American (more fun coffee facts here)

4 months: time, over evenings and weekends, it took actor Nick Offerman to build an 18-foot wooden canoe

Small Boat, Big Job

Offerman built a canoe for its value as a “charismatic human artifact,” he says. “In hindsight, it was incredibly ambitious, but I just had the madman’s ambition.”

13 pounds: weight of the robo-boats, disguised as crocodiles, researchers used to study hippo poo

Hippos and croc-boat

The hippos generally leave the croc-boat alone, as long as it sticks to deep water and gives them wide berth.

360 degrees: horizontal field of a new consumer video camera that lets you record a whole scene without moving

360Fly

335 feet: height of a new roller coaster that sends you on a 60mph, face-first fall

Falcon’s Fury