Potato varieties in cultivation today in the Andes: More than 5,000

Varieties accounting for 90% of U.S. commercial potato acreage: 5

Estimated New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading conducted by high-speed computer algorithms: 50–80%

Typical trading time on NYSE’s most popular platform: 48 milliseconds

SEC fine of NYSE last week for millisecond discrepancies between client access to trading information: $5 million

NYSE Euronext 2011 revenue: $4–5 billion

SEC fine as a percent of NYSE Euronext 2011 revenue: 0.1%

Percent increase in U.S. pesticide use since 1945: 1000%

Pounds of pesticides applied annually in the US today: 1.1 billion

Percent of pesticides that reach targeted pests: 0.1%

Tons per acre of earthworm castings in a typical mid-nineteenth century English garden, as observed by Charles Darwin: 10–20