Millions and Billions

So the world now has 7 billion mouths to feed; when I was a kid in the 70’s it only had 3.5 billion. We also need to bail out Greece again by December to the tune of 8 billion euros. And finally when UK social security payments go up by inflation in April, that will add £1.8 billion to the existing £35 billion bill. It has been a week of billions and we all nod. This weekend Lucy told me that DNA is a combination of 3.2 Billion pairs of bases. I didn’t understand that and when I thought about it, I didn’t understand any of the other three previous facts either. You see, like you I can’t understand a billion. I know it’s big, but I have never given any thought to just how big. Continue reading “Millions and Billions”