“This is green imperialism.”
Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Malaysia’s deputy finance minister, calling developed countries hypocritical in their criticism of China’s growing greenhouse gas emissions. He argues that many western companies are using China’s cheap labour to power industries that create pollution (AP, 25 June)
“It might help globetrotting hamsters, but at the moment there isn’t any evidence to suggest it works in humans.”
Advertisement
Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, UK, on claims that Viagra may help people recover from jet lag, based on the results of a lab study using hamsters (The Guardian, London, 26 June)
“We must have had hanky panky [in the shark tank].”
Veterinarian Bob George‘s first thought on finding that a blacktip reef shark which had died in an aquarium in Virginia Beach was pregnant. There was no male blacktip reef in the tank, so this could be the first known instance of shark cross-breeding (, 25 June)
“I can usually do it in under 2 minutes. Enough to impress people at parties.”
Graduate student Dan Kunkle on solving the Rubik’s cube. He and Gene Cooperman have found that 26 moves suffice to solve any configuration of the cube, the lowest number to date (The Boston Globe, 25 June)
“If you urinate on a piece of bronze and then hide it in the ground for a few weeks you can produce the same patina as on the disc.”
Peter Schauer of the University of Regensburg, Germany, arguing that the Nebra disc is a fake. The disc, emblazoned with symbols of the sun, moon and stars, was found in Germany and is thought by many archaeologists to be a Bronze Age calendar, making it one of the earliest known examples (, 25 June)
