You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
5 percent
That’s the percentage of physicians in the United States who are Muslim. According to a study published in 2015, one in 10 of those doctors has had a patient refuse care based on the doctor’s faith. [The Washington Post]
62.198
Simone Biles, the national hero, has won Olympic gold with a score of 62.198 in the individual all-around artistic gymnastics event. Her teammate Aly Raisman got silver. Biles is the fourth consecutive American to win the gold in the event. [ABC News]
67 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit
All right, so make a mental list of places where you would like to exercise. For me, this list is empty. But for you, it might contain any number of scenic locations. Right now, Olympic marathon runners will have to contend with, among other things, running 26.2 miles in proximity to the equator. I think we can all agree that this notion sucks, and science agrees too. The temperature for the women’s marathon Sunday in Rio de Janeiro is forecast to be 67 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:30 a.m. The reality is that the marathon would be far better — by which I mean faster, because faster is always better — if it were in the Winter Games. [FiveThirtyEight]
70+
More than 70 Republicans signed a letter asking the Republican National Committee to stop using its money to help Donald Trump win the presidential election. Presumably unrelated: Top Trump advisers are getting together with RNC officials for an “emergency meeting” Friday. [Politico]
140 degrees
Heat index in parts of the United Arab Emirates and Iran during July, which is a global obscenity. I was recently [read: last night] in a bar that was slightly more than 75 degrees and left on moral grounds. Not even I can drink in such conditions. [The Washington Post]
£9 billion
Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor is now the third-wealthiest landowner in the United Kingdom after the death of his father, the 6th Duke of Westminster. Although he does have two older sisters, apparently primogeniture was still a thing when the kid was born. The 25-year-old has more money than you ever will, probably. [The Guardian]
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