Sunday, Jul. 03, 2005

Numbers

970,000

Estimated number of AIDS patients receiving anti-HIV drugs under the World Health Organization's "3 by 5" initiative, which aims to place 3 million patients on therapy by the end of 2005

Months the program is behind schedule, surprising public-health officials by getting so close to such an ambitious goal

103,000

Veterans needing medical treatment after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, four times the number the Veterans Administration (VA) had budgeted for this year

$273 million

Portion of the $1 billion shortfall in the VA's budget--which Congress scrambled to cover last week--attributed to those two wars

145 by 45 miles Size, roughly that of Lake Ontario, of the lakelike feature spotted last week on Saturn's moon Titan

-290DEGF

Titan's surface temperature, which is too cold for liquid water but could sustain pools of liquid methane

35 lbs., 12 oz.

Total weight of three babies born at different times to a Wisconsin woman; her third, above, was born last week weighing 13 lbs., 12 oz.

0.15%

Percentage of babies born in the U.S. each year weighing 5,000 g (11.02 lbs.) or more

Sources: WHO (2); New York Times (2); NASA; Rocky Mountain News; AP; National Center for Health Statistics