You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
22 months
President Trump has yet to award the national arts medals for 2016 — those fancy things that go to talented American folks like Ella Fitzgerald, Georgia O’Keeffe and Philip Roth. It’s now been 22 months since the annual awards were handed out. President Trump, I’ll make it easy: #ArtMedalForOliver, in recognition of outstanding significant-digit aggregation. [The New York Times]
30 new badges
Yesterday, the Girl Scouts introduced 30 new badges, meant to help girls tackle “some of society’s most pressing needs,” according to the organization. The new badges include Cybersecurity, Space Science, Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Stewardship. [Gizmodo]
53 points
Elizabeth Cambage, the 6-foot-8 Australian center for the Dallas Wings, scored 53 points yesterday, setting a WNBA record. The previous record was 51 points by Riquna Williams, set in 2013. [AP]
70 new emojis
Yesterday, God help us, was World Emoji Day. In honor of this “occasion,” Apple unveiled 70 new emojis, including a kangaroo, parrot, peacock, mango, lettuce and cupcake. Hip techie-foodie zookeepers are presumably thrilled. [BBC]
79 moons
Scientists have just discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing the planet’s total number of known moons to 79. Vigorous writing is concise, Strunk & White told us, so here goes: Too many moons. [NPR]
3,362,431 acres
More than 3 million acres, an area nearly the size of Connecticut, have burned in wildfires in the U.S. so far this year. That’s higher than the 10-year average while the number of fires is lower: Wildfires in the U.S. are getting bigger. This year’s data point is part of a larger trend, my colleague Maggie Koerth-Baker writes, “probably related to the interaction of changing climate, short-term weather patterns and a philosophical shift in how we manage both forests and fires.” [FiveThirtyEight]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, please send it to @ollie.