Grisly end: lab staff at the centre of a scandal over missing plague-infected mice now believe that the distressed rodents ate each other. Credit: © Alamy
Don't crow about it: this year's 'exploding' toads are thought to have perished in bird attacks. Credit: © AP Photo/Florian Quand
Wait for it: New Year celebrations will be delayed by a second at the close of 2005. Credit: © NASA