On the Record

“A bunch of people with strong egos and God complexes. That sounds like rock ‘n’ roll to me.”

Publisher Bob Guccione explains why scientists, the focus of his newly purchased magazine Discover, aren't so different from the musicians featured in his former magazine Spin.

“We were almost done with our ark and were training the animals to march in two-by-two, but we just didn't make it.”

Dan Maloney of New Orleans' Audubon Zoo explains why staff stayed behind to care for the zoo's animals when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Source: New York Times, Reuters

Scorecard

Spotted eggs

It's not decoration, nor is it camouflage. The reason some eggs are speckled comes down to strength. The red spots on eggs laid by great tits occur where the shell is at its thinnest.

Energy at sea

Russia unveils plans to build the world's first floating nuclear power plant. The project is already throwing up some unusual safety questions, including how to protect it from attack by divers.

Bats

Some 40% of China's horseshoe bats are carrying a SARS-like virus. Bat meat and faeces, used in traditional food and medicine respectively, may now see a drop in demand.

Number Crunch

100 billion bases of sequenced genetic code have been deposited in three major public databases since 1982.

165,000 is the number of organisms whose complete or partial genome is coded for by these bases.

90% of this information was deposited during the past five years.