Numlock News: November 12, 2026 • Parasite, Yttrium, Vertical Datum

Nov 12, 2026

By Walt Hickey

Home Entertainment

A new analysis of consumer spending found that American consumers spent $62.2 billion on movies and television shows consumed at home in 2025, which is seven times as much as the $8.87 billion spent on theatrical ticket sales. The in-home entertainment spending is even more significant than that original number may indicate, as video games brought in a further $60.7 billion in the period, also about seven times the size of the theatrical market. In all, consumers spent about $122.9 billion across home entertainment and video games for the year, about $7.01 on home entertainment and $6.84 on video games for every $1 spent at the cinema.

Erik Gruenwedel, Media Play News

Yttrium

The heavy rare-earth metal yttrium, best known for its applications in semiconductors, aerospace and crossword puzzles, has seen prices hit unprecedented levels in the West. The benchmark European price for the metal reached $1,087 per kilogram, which is nine times the price a year ago and 174 times the price at the end of 2024. In China, the metal costs less than 1 percent of that. In April 2025, Beijing announced curbs on seven rare-earth elements given their utility in defense applications and geopolitically sensitive word searches.

Machika Suzuki, Nikkei Asia

Canal

Due to improving water conditions in the reservoir that supplies the canal, the Panama Canal is increasing its daily transit capacity to 34 vessels, and upping its maximum allowable draft back to 50 feet. This adjustment adds one daily booking slot for Super vessels at the locks, bringing the total daily reservation capacity to 24 at the Panamax locks and 10 at the Neopanamax locks. At the worst point of the 2023-24 drought, daily transit capacity fell to 22 vessels.

Mike Schuler, gCaptain

Standing

A new study of over 10,000 employees found that people who used sit-stand desks averaged 43 more minutes of time of active computer use every day compared to those who used typical desks. The workers who used sit-stand desks averaged 3.66 hours of active computer time per day, significantly more than the 2.95 hours per day among those who used a regular desk, which adds up to 171 additional hours per year.

Zaid Elayyan, Texas A&M

Pesticides

China is the largest global producer of pesticides, producing 1.8 million tons of active ingredient equivalent pesticide in 2021, of which 85 percent is exported. Where precisely that stuff goes is a matter of controversy. Brazil has banned many pesticides, but also sees lots of those illegal pesticides smuggled in. The dead giveaway is the profound amount of banned pesticides that are bought by countries that in no possible world could consume the volume; neighboring Paraguay imports 3,276 megatons of paraquat, or 0.72 kilograms of paraquat per hectare of cropland, an astonishing amount of chemical, a sign of potential smuggling.

Jessica Brice, Leon Yin, Beatriz Ramalho da Silva and Helen Freitas, Bloomberg

Parasite

Climate-induced loss of habitat could cause the extinction of 5 percent to 10 percent of parasite species by 2070, according to one estimate. Species that depend on other species for their ability to exist are, when those other host species get into ecological peril, just as likely to face extinction if not more so. When the California condor stared at oblivion, so too did Colpocephalum californici, the condor louse, which nearly died out as well. And while often lacking the charisma of their hosts, the endangered parasites have the same right to exist as any other species, especially given the lack of understanding about their importance to the overall community.

Amber Dance, Knowable Magazine

Mountains

NOAA is nearly finished with an overhaul of the National Spatial Reference System, which is the system that defines where things are in space in the United States. The new framework will be finalized in early 2027, and involves a total refresh of latitude, longitude, and altitude for all things around the country. Measurements may change by up to six feet in some situations, reflecting changes to the environment such as melting ice as well as technical changes since the last update in 1986. This will also involve vertical adjustments thanks to, literally, gravity, which has dragged things down a bit, and an update to the vertical datum that defines where sea level is at every point in the United States, which was last updated in 1991.

Katherine Cusumano, Scientific American

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Numlock News is written each day by Walt Hickey. Email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Every post is entirely by a human; send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news. If you enjoy Numlock, tell a friend, word of mouth is the only way that independent publications like this one grow.

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