Cost of sequencing a human genome 🔬 • 2001 - $95 million • 2008 - $342,502 • 2011 - $7,743 • 2023 - $200 with the new Illumina machine Cc: @PeterDiamandis @azeem @erikbryn @rtnarch

In the past, most people worked in agriculture; in today’s rich countries, only a small share do— For most of human history since the agricultural revolution, the majority of the labor force in countries like France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Netherlands worked in agriculture. However, over the last few centuries, this share has plummeted. Today, less than 10% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, and in many cases, it's just a few percent. This trend is shown clearly in the chart, which is based on data from the International Labour Organization and historical reconstructions by Broadberry and Gardner (2013) and Herrendorf et al. (2014), as we’ve documented in detail. The chart also includes the even steeper decline in agricultural employment in China over the last 50 years, as people have shifted to manufacturing and services. (This Daily Data Insight was written by @_HannahRitchie.)

Researchers have reconstructed the complete wiring diagram, or connectome, of the fruit fly’s adult brain—a feat akin to mapping all the buildings, avenues, and streets in a complex city. bit.ly/4hc6BmO @NewsfromScience

Solar and wind power is growing quickly in Poland, but coal still dominates— The share of electricity produced by solar and wind in Poland almost doubled in just two years. In 2021, these renewable sources produced just 11% of its power; by 2023, this was 21%. You can see this growth in the chart above, based on electricity data from Ember. Poland still has one of the most coal-intensive electricity mixes in Europe, with coal producing 61% of its power. The country has committed to moving away from coal in the next few decades; growing solar and wind generation will play a key role in this. (This Daily Data Insight was written by @_HannahRitchie.)

The shortage of excellent engineering talent mentioned by @elonmusk below would be far worse without immigration Cc: @paulg @AlecStapp @Noahpinion @amasad

Immigrants win Nobel prizes 🏅🏅

These two photographs are separated by only 66 years.

The United States 🇺🇸 spent $923 billion in 2022 on R&D, around 30% of global R&D spending. China 🇨🇳 spent the equivalent of $812 billion (adjusted for purchasing power parity). 🔬🧬🧫🔭🧪

In 2020, China 🇨🇳 overtook the United States 🇺🇸 in terms of its share of the world’s top 1% of cited scientific papers

12 years ago, the revolutionary genetic tool #CRISPR/Cas9 was published in Science, work that @e__charpentier and @doudna_lab won a #NobelPrize for in 2020. On #WorldCRISPRDay, read the landmark paper that describes the discovery: bit.ly/3BO74LP

From transportation to storage and beyond, the battery exponential is going to change the world 🔋📈 Cc: @Noahpinion @azeem @erikbryn @JesseJenkins

Batteries are a vital part of the energy transition 🔋 ✅ They’re the fastest growing clean technology on the market ✅ They help meet climate goals & ensure energy security ✅ They bring down emissions in power & transport More 👉 iea.li/4gouKGr

A weather station in Czech Republic has recorded over 450 mm of rain over the past 96 hours, leading to disastrous flooding. That’s half a year's worth of rain in just 4 days.