0.305 seconds: How long it took Mitsubishi’s Tokui Fast Accurate Synchronized Motion Testing Robot to solve a Rubik’s cube, besting human record-holder Max Park’s 3.13-second feat. The bot is equipped with a color-recognition algorithm and can finish each 90-degree rotation about as fast as a hummingbird flaps its wings.
38%: Share of websites that existed in 2013, but were inaccessible as of October 2023, per the Pew Research Center. This so-called “digital decay” has left 23% of news websites, 21% of government sites, and 54% of Wikipedia pages with at least one broken link.
$5.29: The average cost of a Big Mac in the US, a 21% increase from 2019’s average of $4.39, according to McDonald’s USA president Joe Erlinger. Erlinger’s comments were made to defend recent price hikes, saying they’re not as severe as social media would have you believe. To entice budget-conscious consumers, McDonald’s will offer a $5 value meal that includes a sandwich, fries, four-piece McNuggets, and a soft drink, thanks to a $4.6m subsidy from Coca-Cola.
2+ pounds: Weight of LignoSat, a small magnolia wood satellite developed by Kyoto University scientists and Tokyo logging company Sumitomo Forestry. LignoSat is the first satellite that replaces parts typically made from aluminum with wood, which would burn up completely when reentering Earth’s atmosphere — no debris. In September, LignoSat will head to space aboard a SpaceX rocket to test how it fares.
