You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
1 robot per 19 people
South Korea is considering changing its tax laws to make the country less friendly to automation. The nation is currently the most automated on the planet with one robot, per 19 employed humans. [Engineering & Technology]
$15
Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia is pitching a plan that would ask the Department of Homeland Security to pay $15 to a utility company for every ton of Appalachian coal the company burns. Justice says President Trump is interested in the plan. [Bloomberg]
27 percent
FiveThirtyEight has relaunched it’s club soccer predictions! For instance, Manchester City has a 27 percent chance of winning the English Premiere League, Real Madrid has even odds of winning Spain’s La Liga, and Bayern Munich has a 72 percent chance of winning Bundesliga. [FiveThirtyEight]
I-80
In advance of the full solar eclipse that will bathe the state in random midday darkness, the Nebraska Department of Transportation announced oversized semitrailer trucks will be banned from state highways and I-80 from sundown Aug. 18 to sunrise Aug. 22. [Omaha World-Herald]
116,800 patients
Number of people currently on organ transplant waiting lists. Researchers published details in the journal Science of a successful experiment to genetically breed pigs free from viruses that could cause disease in people. This may open the door to successful human-viable pig organ transplants. [The New York Times]
$250 million
Amount of publicly-disclosed investment money that Crunchbase found in the “alternative protein” startup space in the past two years. Lots of people are trying to figure out a good way to replicate the taste and nutrition of beef using plants. It’s not super easy. [Crunchbase]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.