Zoo news

Making faces

Italian researchers have found that infant rhesus macaques can imitate facial movements, suggesting that this ability isn't unique to great apes as previously thought. Sticking your tongue out all day at baby monkeys? Now that has to be one of the best jobs in the world.

Live fast, die young

The most distant galaxy isn't the only scientific record notched up this week (see page 128). Guinness World Records has confirmed that the coral reef pygmy goby (Eviota sigillata), discovered by Australian researchers, is the vertebrate with the shortest known lifespan — a fleeting 59 days.

On the Record

“Experience your own choice of a dazzling and varied array of gourmet food.”

Invitation for the official party of the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney.

“To vomit in space is not my idea of a good time.”

Star Trek actor William Shatner turns down British entrepreneur Richard Branson's offer of a real space flight.

Overhyped

Last week, news sources worldwide reported that a parapsychologist at Trinity College, Cambridge, had proved the effect of telephone telepathy — in which a subject 'knows' who is calling before they answer the phone.

But the researcher, Rupert Sheldrake, is not employed by the university. Instead, he gets a grant from the Perrott-Warrick fund for psychic research, set up at Trinity about a century ago. The finances are still looked after by the college, but it has no connection with the committee that spends the money.

Martin Rees, master of Trinity, says it is inappropriate to describe Sheldrake's affiliation as Trinity College. “I think he's a former fellow of Clare, which should have undiluted credit,” he says.

Sources: PLoS Biol., UPI