Patents [286-4]

This globe plots the total amount of patents granted worldwide, beginning in 1883 with just under 50,000, hitting 1,000,000 in 1995 and about to double that amount by 2010. Geographic regions where countries offer environments conducive to fostering innovation are represented by topography.
Almost half of the 5.6 million patents in force in 2005 are owned by
applicants from Japan and the US.

Wetlands[115]

Wetlands" is the collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas. About 75% of all endangered species are native to the world's wetlands.

DNA Traces [231]

Population geneticists have traced the human family tree to an ancestral homo sapiens community of only 2000 breeding individuals living in Africa, which began splitting up approximately 144,000 years ago and migrating to Asia and Europe before the Americas. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA passed from mother to child have identified only one female (a mitochondrial “Eve”) at the root of the mDNA family tree represented by orange lines; other lineages fell extinct. Y chromosome sequences passed from father to son are represented by green lines and go back to a single chromosonal “Adam.” It is believed that 10 principle branches in the Y chromosome tree may correspond to the world’s major language groups.

Submarine Fiberoptic Network [319]

The width of lines represents transmission capacity.