The same information stored digitally on CDs would create a stack of discs that would reach beyond the moon, according to the researchers.

BBC: Global data storage calculated at 295 exabytes

Or the serendipity of coming across that one vitally important nugget of information you know is buried somewhere in your stack of unread papers.

FORBES: How to Survive the Death of Print Media

If the 295 trillion megabytes (or, exabytes) of stored information were saved on CD-ROMs, the stack of CDs would stretch from the Earth to beyond the moon, according to Hilbert and Lopez.

FORBES: Study Estimates Global Capacity to Store, Communicate and Process Data

They enable water to be pumped in a network that runs between the horizontal layers of a stack and the thousands of vertical interconnections that carry information between its layers.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

At the micro level, the migration of personally identifiable information and proprietary intellectual property online has influenced IPv6 protocol architects to bake additional security into the stack.

FORBES: The Security Paradox Of IPv6; Shoring Up The Holes