It is doubtful that any of that cubic kilometre will ever run at all.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Spain

In other words, they contained just a few millionths of a gram of dust in each cubic kilometre.

ECONOMIST: Dusty genesis

For a truly spectacular case of regional uproar, look at the national water plan unveiled in September, a huge scheme to transfer a cubic kilometre of water a year from (mainly) the Ebro, in the north, to the dry south-east.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Spain

Extrapolating from Dr Freund's laboratory experiments, the strain in a real-life geological fault such as the San Andreas could, as it shifted, generate hundreds of thousands of amperes per cubic kilometre in a fluctuating pattern that would cause very low frequency radio waves to be emitted, thus disrupting the ionosphere.

ECONOMIST: Predicting earthquakes