PART II OF VI

ELSEWHERE AND OVERHEARD
by Caitlin Dowling

Overheard

"We think it will be particularly beneficial to those who don't like using a toothbrush."

Researcher Nikos Soukos on the new light-sabre alternative to a toothbrush, in development in the US. (New Scientist, Ananova.com)

***

"Should you be smiling while talking about cancer?”

Dr Simon Singh, the Simon Cowell-like judge at Famelab, a Pop Idol style contest to get science on television for the masses. (David Adam, Guardianunlimited.co.uk)

***

"They do look like gremlins, and at first sight it is hard to believe they are real,"

Caroline Brown, senior keeper of small mammals at Bristol Zoo, talking about the Aye-aye, who keepers wanted to call Gollum, after its striking resemblance to the anti-hero of The Lord of Rings. (Paul Brown, Guardian unlimited)

***

"There are two ways of looking at this. The first is that they were doing a ritual dance, but the other possibility is that the man and woman were copulating”

Dr Harald Stauble, part of the archaeological team who appear to have stumbled across one pornography, from the stone age.

***

"I think that these findings in dogs are directly relevant to the human situation,"

Geoffrey Raisman of the Institute of Neurology at University College London, who is injecting OEG cells(capable of regeneration) into dogs with spinal cord injuries. Many of the paraplegic dogs treated are regaining some feeling.(New Scientist)


Elsewhere

'Minority Report' interface created for US military

Lethal injections called flawed.

Gut-Level Census Surprises: A report in the online edition of Science shows that almost 400 types of bacteria actually live in the gut.

Making a science out of applied idiocy (say no more)

When she's not ice-fishing or making her own shoes, Caitlin Dowling leads a quiet life, as a masters candidate at the school of Journalism at UBC. Okay, the first two aren't true, but she does love research, and finding the news and quotes that make us laugh or intrigue us:)