Magee, Chris, 43, 45–46, 56, 207–8
magicians, 178–79
magnetic properties of iron, 49–50
Maldives, 203
Malthus, Thomas, 59
mammal species, 22, 23, 128
extinct, 28
manuscripts, 87–91, 114–16
Marchetti, Cesare, 64
Marsh, Othniel, 80–81, 169
mathematics, 19, 51, 112–14, 124–25, 132–35
Matthew effect, 103
Mauboussin, Michael, 84
Mayor, Michel, 122
McGovern, George, 66
McIntosh, J. S., 81–82
McWhorter, John, 191
measurement, 142–70
decline effect and, 155–56, 157
kilogram in, 147–48
meter in, 143–47
of Mount Everest, 140–41
precision and accuracy in, 149–50
prefixes in, 47–48, 142, 147
publication bias and, 156
of trees, 142
Mechanical Turk, 180–82
medical knowledge, 23, 32, 51–52, 53, 122, 197, 198, 208
about cirrhosis and hepatitis, 28–30
MEDLINE, 99–100
memorization, 198
Mendel, Gregor, 106
Mendeley, 117, 118
Merton, Robert, 61, 103, 104
mesofacts, 6–7, 195, 203
meta-analysis, 107–8
cumulative, 109–10
meter, 143–47
Milgram, Stanley, 24, 167
mobile phone calls, 69, 77
Moon, 2, 126–28, 129, 138, 174, 203
Moore, Gordon, 42, 55, 56
Moore’s Law, 41–43, 46, 48, 51, 55, 56, 64, 203
Moriarty, James, 85–86
Mount Everest, 140–41
Mueller, John, 165
Munroe, Randall, 84, 153–54
Murphy, Tom, 55
mutation, 87–94
Napier’s constant, 12
National Institutes of Health, 17
natural selection, 104–5, 187
Nature, 122, 154, 156, 162, 166
negative results, 162
Neptune, 154–55, 183
network science, 74–78
neuroscience, 48
New Scientist, 85
Newton, Isaac, 21, 36, 67, 94, 174, 186
New Yorker, 86
New York Times, 20, 75, 174
Nobel laureates, 18
nosebleeds, 180–82
Noyce, Robert, 42
null hypothesis, 152
Obama, Barack, 179
Oliver, John, 159
Onnela, Jukka-Pekka, 69, 77
On the Origin of Species (Darwin), 79, 187
opera, 14–15
orders, 60
Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe, An (Wright), 121–22
Pacioli, Luca, 200
paleography, 87–90
paradigm, 186
paradigm shift, 186, 187
Parmentier, Antoine, 102
particle accelerator, 51
Patent Office, 54
Pauly, Daniel, 172–73
periodic table, 50, 150–52, 182
Petroski, Henry, 49
phase transitions, 207
in acceptance and assimilation of knowledge, 185, 186
in facts, 121–39, 185
Ising model and, 124, 125–26, 138
in physics, 123–24, 126
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 9, 12
physics, 32
Planck, Maxwell, 186–88
planets, 6, 121–23, 128, 129–31, 132, 183–84
Planet X, 154–56, 160
Pluto, 122–23, 128, 138, 148–49, 155, 183–84
polio, 52
Pony Express, 70
Poovey, Mary, 200
Popeye the Sailor, 83
population:
innovation and, 135–37, 202
makeup of, 61
size of, 2, 6, 57–61, 122, 135–37, 204
Portugal, 207
posterior probability, 159
potatoes, 102
preferential attachment, 103
prefixes, 47–48, 142, 147
Price, Derek J. de Solla, 9, 12–13, 15, 17, 32, 47, 50, 103, 166–67
prices, 196–97
printing press, 70–74, 78, 115
prior probability, 159
Pritchett, Lant, 186
Prize4Life Foundation, 97–98
productivity, 55–56
programmed cell death, 111, 194
proteomics, 48
Proteus phenomenon, 161
publication bias, 156
p-values, 152–54, 156, 158
P versus NP, 133–35
“Quantitative Measures of the Development of Science” (Price), 12
Quebec, 193–94
Queloz, Didier, 122
radioactivity, 2–3, 29, 33
Raynaud’s syndrome, 99, 110
reading, 197–98
Real Time Statistics Project, 195
reinventions, 104–5
Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke), 19
Rényi, Alfréd, 104
replication, 161–62
Riggs, Elmer, 81
Robinson, Karen, 107–8
robots, 46
Royal Society, 94–95
Roychowdhury, Vwani, 91, 103–4
Russell, C. T., 148–49, 155
Sagan, Carl, 121–22, 129
sand, 137–38
Sandström, Ivar, 23
Schmidt, Mike, 113
Schulz, Kathryn, 174–75, 201–2
Schwartz, David, 66
science:
citizen, 19–21
cumulative knowledge and, 56–57
end of progress in, 54–55, 204
eurekometrics and, 21, 22
human aspect of, 185, 186–87
pace of discovery in, 9–25
population growth and, 57–61
technology and, 48–49
Science, 103, 161, 198
“Science, Technology, and Society in Seventeenth-Century England” (Merton), 61
Science Daily, 37–38
scientific journals, 9, 12, 16–17, 32
scientific prefixes, 47–48, 142, 147
Scientific Revolution, 94, 201–2
scientists, number of, 23–24
scientometrics, 12, 15–18
S-curves (logistic curves), 44–46, 50, 116, 130, 203–4
self-serving bias, 175–76
Semmelweis, Ignaz, 176–77, 185
Semmelweis reflex, 177, 179
Shakespeare, William, 105
shifting baseline syndrome, 172–73, 183, 190, 193
sidewalk experiment, 167
Simkin, Mikhail, 91, 103–4
Simon, Herbert, 103
Simons, Daniel, 178
simultaneous innovation, 104–5
singularities, 207
six degrees of separation, 24, 74, 93, 167
slow change, 171, 172, 190, 191
Smalheiser, Neil, 100
smallpox, 52
Smith, John Maynard, 154, 156
smoking, 2, 128
Snopes.com, 84
Social Forces, 13
social networks, 74–78, 93–95,
205–6
connection strengths in, 76–78
Dunbar’s Number and, 205–6
Mendeley and, 118
social sciences, 202–3
solar system, 6, 121–22
species, 143
extinct, 26, 27–28
of mammals, 22, 23, 28, 128
of marine life, 37–39
Spaceguard Survey, 19
Spacewatch, 19
spinach, 83–84
Sputnik, 127
stars, 121–22
statistics, 153, 154, 156
steam engine, 49
Stigler, Stephen, 104, 166
Stigler’s Law of Eponymy, 104
“Strength of Weak Ties, The” (Granovetter), 76
streptokinase, 108–9
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The (Kuhn), 186
subways, 173–74
Swanson, Don, 98–100, 109–10
Switek, Brian, 183
Systemic, 129
Tai, Mary, 67, 68
Talese, Gay, 198
Tang, Chao, 137–38
Tang, Rong, 32
Tasmania, 57, 59, 60
taxonomic bias, 168
technology, 53–54, 122, 173, 184
cumulative knowledge and, 56–57
economics of, 53
end of, 54–55
information transformation and, 43–44, 46
limits of, 203–4
logistic curves and, 44–46, 50, 203–4
and magnetic properties of iron, 50
Moore’s Law and, 41–43, 46, 48, 51, 56
population growth and, 57–61
science and, 48–49
telephone, 104
telephone game, 87
Tessner, Peter, 187
texts, old, 87–91, 114–16
theory-induced blindness, 177
TheoryMine, 19, 113
thermal conductivity of the elements, 33–35
thermodynamics, 49
Think Twice (Mauboussin), 84
Tjio, Joe Hin, 1–2
Today, 41
Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro, 104
travel and communication, 61–64
trees, 142
Twitter, 103
UpToDate, 198
uranium, 2–3
Uranus, 154, 155
verbs, 189
Viagra, 112
voice onset time, 190
von Wolf, Erich, 83
Voyager, 155
Wagner, Walter, 159
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 105
Wallace, George, 66
war, 165
War of 1812, 70
Watts, Duncan, 188
Waugh, Andrew Scott, 140–41
weather, 124
Web, 40–41
What Technology Wants (Kelly), 46
“Why Most Published Research Findings Are False” (Ioannides), 158–59
Wiesenfeld, Kurt, 137–38
Wikipedia, 84
Wiles, Andrew, 132
Wilkins, John, 52, 143–44
Winfrey, Oprah, 190
Worldometers, 195–96
Wray, Bradley, 175
Wren, Christopher, 143–44
Wright, Thomas, 121–22
xkcd, 84
Yensen, Trygve Dewey, 50
Yule, Udny, 103
Zaslavsky, Alan, 69
Zeno’s Paradoxes, 29–30
Ziman, John, 164
Zimmer, Carl, 161–62
Zuckerman, Harriet, 18
The Half-Life of Facts Page 26