By The Numbers

$54.5 million Amount Mitt Romney has raised for his presidential campaign as of Jan. 31, including super PAC funding $44.3 million Amount Barack Obama has raised for his reelection as of Jan. 31, including super PAC funding $30.5 million Amount the National Cancer Institute spent in 2010 on esophageal cancer research $19.6 million Amount the National Science Foundation requested in 2011 for the Gemini Observatory, among the most powerful telescopes in the world $18 million What the NSF spent in 2010 to fund the Large Hadron Collider $14 million Estimated amount the National Institutes of Health spent in 2011 funding gene therapy clinical trials COMMENT AT ScientificAmerican.com/apr2012

Amount Mitt Romney has raised for his presidential campaign as of Jan. 31, including super PAC funding

$44.3 million

Amount Barack Obama has raised for his reelection as of Jan. 31, including super PAC funding

$30.5 million

Amount the National Cancer Institute spent in 2010 on esophageal cancer research

$19.6 million

Amount the National Science Foundation requested in 2011 for the Gemini Observatory, among the most powerful telescopes in the world

$18 million

What the NSF spent in 2010 to fund the Large Hadron Collider

$14 million

Estimated amount the National Institutes of Health spent in 2011 funding gene therapy clinical trials

COMMENT AT ScientificAmerican.com/apr2012