Numbers in the News

Estimated weight in tons of all the human-made objects on Earth (including buildings, vehicles, manufactured items, and garbage), according to a new study by geologists in England.

Price of a first-edition printing of Isaac Newton’s Principia at a recent auction. The book, published in 1687, describes his famous three laws of motion.

Weight in pounds of marbles spilled when a cargo truck’s trailer split open on an interstate highway in Indiana. The main ingredient in glass marbles is silica (SiO2).

Distance in miles that biologist Sacha Dench paraglided from Russia to the U.K. to follow the migration of endangered swans to understand the threats the birds face.

Number of bonds a carbon atom forms with other atoms in a newly synthesized molecule, called hexamethylbenzene. Until now, scientists thought carbon could make a maximum of four bonds.