Nisbet sliced-and-diced information from several large campaign-finance databases like OpenSecrets.org and Maplight.org to estimate the amount of money environmental groups and the fossil-fuel industry spent on climate and energy campaigns.

FORBES: Connect

And that, in turn, can be used to estimate the amount of carbon stored in the plot examined, and extrapolated to calculate the carbon stored in larger areas of forest that have been scanned by lidar, but not measured with tapes.

ECONOMIST: Forest conservation

Although the number given was only the total amount paid to its directors--we still had to estimate the pay of the CEO, Franz Humer--it is a step in the right direction.

FORBES: The top of the heap

In theory, a solar shade could provide any amount of cooling, but the researchers estimate that it would have to have an area of 4.1m square kilometres (half the size of Brazil) to offset half the warming expected over the next century, assuming no cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions occur.

ECONOMIST: Geo-engineering

The GPS data allowed a map to be made of the routes taken and the heart-rate measurements provided an estimate of the amount of energy expended during their travels.

ECONOMIST: Men and women navigate differently

Buying the necessary copper could prove equally difficult, since analysts estimate global exchange stocks amount to only 140, 000 tonnes, of which the LME holds 65, 000.

ECONOMIST: China's copper crisis | The

Merck says it cannot yet reasonably estimate the amount of the Vioxx liability in order to take reserves.

FORBES: Vioxx Anxiety Rises

The refining and transportation operations have larger revenues but contribute a significantly lower amount to our total estimate value for Chevron given that the profitability of production operations is higher.

FORBES: Expensive Crude Will Help Chevron Cruise To $104

In other words, if the FOMC announces that it wants the Federal Funds rate to be 4 percent rather than the existing 5 percent, the amount of open market purchases needed to achieve this target is likely a range rather than a point estimate.

FORBES: Allow Interest Rates To Rise While Keeping Monetary Policy Accommodative