December 8, 2011. If uncoiled, the DNA in all the cells in the human body would stretch 16 billion kilometres – to Pluto and back. (Discover)
The US won first place in the Fossil awards yesterday. The award is given to the country doing its best to block progress, as voted by the Climate Action Network. (The Mercury)
To register all 1.2 billion Indians, the country’s national ID programme will need to collect 12 billion fingerprints and scan 2.4 billion irises. (New York Times)
If the water were evaporated from the world’s oceans, we would be left with 18.7 million cubic kilometres of salt. (Discover)
While Americans must show a photo ID to board a plane or buy a beer, about 11% of registered voters lack government-issued IDs. (The Economist)
The Global Top 5 companies leading their respective industry in Green Rankings. Under section “Materials”. Number 1: Anglo American Platinum, South Africa. (Newsweek)
A possible Earth twin has been confirmed orbiting a sunlike star 600 light-years away – and the new planet may be in just the right spot for supporting life, NASA announced Monday. (National Geographic)
Outside of election periods, public speeches are not allowed in Singapore without a permit. (Financial Times)
Dogs’ sensitivity to odours is between 10 000 and 100 000 times greater than that of humans. (John Bradshaw, Dog Sense)
Singer Taylor Swift: “To succeed in life, it takes ignoring so many people who tell you it’s not possible.” (Newsweek)
At least 7.8 million people in the US own an iPad – and about 56% of US iPad owners in that country are male. (Wall Street Journal)
$6.86 billion – The amounted estimated to be spent on Halloween in the US in 2011. (Newsweek)
In answering the question, “Who is your idol?”. Madelaine Albright: “I have many idols. Nelson Mandela is one of them.” (Newsweek)
Parents sharing beds with their babies were the cause of nearly two thirds of cot deaths autopsied at a leading London Children’s hospital, the Guardian reported. A study at Great Ormond Street Hospital highlighted sleeping on a sofa as a particular danger. (News Now)
Long before the dinosaurs, a bleak environment of widespread fires and oxygen-poor coastal seawater killed off some 90% of Earth’s living species. The process took less than 200 000 years, according to a new study of the planet’s most catastrophic mass-extinction event. (National Geographic)