96 Percent of the universe consisting of unknown components. 23 percent is thought to be made up of poorly understood dark matter, detectable only by its gravitational pull on other material, and 73 percent is dark energy, a completely enigmatic entity that seems to play a role in the accelerating expansion of the universe. Ordinary matter, which makes up the atoms of familiar objects as well as stars and the visible portions of galaxies, accounts for just 4 percent of the cosmos.
12,500 Approximate number of genes in the human genome whose function remains undetermined. These represent about 50 percent of the total estimated number of human protein-encoding genes. And genes make up only about 2 percent of the entire genome. Portions of the remainder help to regulate gene activity, but just how much is useful and how much is truly “junk” remains a mystery. About 3.5 percent of our ...
