On the Record

“It is not enough to be a corpse any more. Now you have to be a politically correct corpse.”

Michigan funeral director Thomas Lynch on ‘green’ cemeteries, which use biodegradable coffins.

“It could potentially be a showstopper if somebody gets suicidal on the way to Mars.”

Psychiatrist Nick Kanas tells NASA it should worry about astronaut stress.

“We realized that using a cruise liner makes it impossible for many participants to rightfully cover their expenses.”

A meeting organizer explains why the First International Symposium on Nanotoxicology has shifted venue from a Caribbean cruise ship.

Scorecard

White bread

After eight years and millions of dollars spent on research, US scientists figure out a way to sneak whole grains into white loaves.

Urine

Singaporean physicists have developed a paper battery that generates power from pee. They say it could be used in cheap biological home-testing kits, but will consumers go for it?

Lab safety

An employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory accidentally brings americium-241 to family homes, and ships some to Pennsylvania, triggering a four-state sweep for radiological material.

Datapoint

Percentage of scientists who say they don't believe in God.

Biologists 41%

Physicists 41%

Chemists 27%

Source: Elaine Ecklund and Christopher Scheitle, unpublished work presented at the 2005 meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.