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1 in 10
The proportion of biology Ph.D.s who will get a job in academia. The demand for people with doctorates just doesn’t come close to the available supply. [The Hechinger Report]
4.0
5 p.m.
The best time to post something to Instagram (ideally also on a Wednesday) to get hella likes. Another good time is 2 a.m., presumably to grab those late left-coast likes and the night owls of the East. [The Huffington Post]
10 percent
The way we rate hospitals is inconsistent, and makes it harder to determine true quality. A study compared four national hospital-rating systems and found 844 hospitals that were considered “high-performing” on at least one list. The issue? Only 10 percent of those hospitals were deemed high performers on any of the other lists. [Health Affairs, via Adrianna McIntyre]
45 percent
Come, visit beautiful Russia. Compared to last year, the average price of a hotel room in the country fell by $80 for users of the dollar, a 45 percent drop. This is because Russia’s currency is crashing. [Wonkblog]
63 percent lower
The best thing I personally do for my health is to take a regular schvitz at the Russian-Turkish Baths, a new study has found. The risk of cardiovascular death decreased by as much as 63 percent in men who went to the sauna often, compared to men who went only once a week. [The Wall Street Journal]
8,000 years
Earth has a weird rock following it around called 3753 Cruithne. This “quasi-orbital satellite” travels through space like a drunk and will be closest to us in about 2,750 years. Luckily, in 8,000 years or so it’ll get too close to Venus and may finally take the hint that we’re in a pretty serious relationship with the Moon and buzz off. [Discover Magazine]
73 million
Remember when we were all talking about that dress last week? I don’t, I was still pretty obsessed with the llamas. But many people on Tumblr were — the original image post got a whopping 73 million pageviews according to the Tumblr staff. [Tumblr]
$200 million
How much New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman is hoping to sell the paper for. A list of suitors is queuing up, one of whom is former mayoral candidate and the man behind the greatest Christmas card of all time John Catsimatidis. (Make sure to click through the link, because if the Post was put on this earth to do one thing it’s to throw shade at the Daily News.) [New York Post]
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And, as always, if you see a significant digit in the wild, tweet it to me @WaltHickey.