peterga wiki / MiscNumbers

0.3 - Avg IQ points gained each year since 1947 (WISC, WAIS, Stanford-Binet) (WII p112)
1 - IQ points per generation lost due to U.S. reproductive patterns (WII p101)
10 - There are 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in the human body (WP)
15-30% - Rate at which people are wrong about things they consider 98% certain (Black Swan)
16% - Percent of the variance in IQ accounted for by variation in brain volume (Scientific American Mind, Aug/Sep 2008 p63)
17.5 - Avg times people laugh per day (Rod Martin, University of Western Ontario, \"The Psychology of Humor\"
70% - Approximate portion of U.S. food that is genetically modified
186,283 miles/second - Speed of light (c) = 3x10^10 cm/second
200,000 years - Single female ancestor of all humankind
1 million - Bacteria in approx. mililiter of fresh water
5 nonillion (5x10^30) - Approx. bacteria in the world

10^18 cm = 1 light year
10^-8 cm - Angstrom (=~ diameter of atom)
1836x - Mass of proton to mass of electron
6.022 x 10^23 atoms/mole - Avogadro's number
5 million years - Common ancestor to chimpanzees and humans (CUK p.86)
10^80 - Atoms in the known universe (Source)
10^600 - Odds of a mother conceiving a child genetically identical to another (but not an identical twin) (Source)

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