5 hours and 39 minutes: the time, from launch to docking, it took this week’s Soyuz crew to get from Earth to the International Space Station. A new world record!
9.48 seconds: the limit to how fast a natural human could possibly run the 100-meter race, according to a Stanford biologist. That’s 0.10 seconds faster than Usain Bolt’s current world record.
8 percent: the portion of humans that still have the bendy, chimp-like feet of our tree-dwelling ancestors (yes, 1 in 13 people!)
1,100 degrees Fahrenheit: the heat produced by the Beam Down Tower in Masdar City, a fascinating experiment in concentrated solar power
$1 million: the money asteroid mining company Planetary Resources hopes to raise on Kickstarter to build an orbiting space telescope that ordinary people can control from Earth
100 feet: the firing range of Nerf’s newest gun, which shoots MEGA darts nearly 55 mph
27 hours: the time this Australian police department spent making a 3-D printed pistol. The plastic gun exploded.
1953: the year a botched lobotomy left Henry Molaison unable to form new memories. His personal tragedy would eventually revolutionize neuroscience.
71 percent: the accuracy with which this beer-pouring robot can predict the future, three seconds in advance
$979: the price of the first office chair engineered to support the slouched backs and roving elbows of smartphone and tablet users
$5 million: the cost to produce a floating generator that harnesses energy from ocean currents
30,000: the number of homes this awesome wave farm will be able to power
