On the Record

“This regime is intent on getting a bomb.”

Paul Leventhal, founder of the Nuclear Control Institute, echoes the view of most analysts about Iran restarting chemical processing of uranium.

“You guys now have anthrax spores once again, so do be careful.”

A dispute over property tax saw an NIH employee leave this voicemail for her Florida tax office, which promptly got her arrested.

Scorecard

Science at the movies

The silver screen is the latest weapon in the Pentagon's bid to bolster national defence. It is training scientists to write screenplays in the hope that films featuring glamorous researchers will draw more US students into science.

Fight against drugs

Official figures for illegal drug use may be way off the truth. In Italy's Po valley, 15,000 users admit to taking cocaine at least once a month. But analysing river and sewage water for a byproduct of the drug suggests that the real number is closer to 40,000 doses — a day.

Ugly fish

Forget size and taste, the latest goal in genetically engineered food is prettier fish. A team at the US Department of Agriculture is trying to create trout with lighter skin and smaller noses in a bid to make them more appealing to consumers.

Overhyped

Planet spotting

When astronomers at the California Institute of Technology reported a Solar-System object larger than Pluto two weeks ago, the news was followed by rumours that the announcement was rushed out when a hacker threatened to scoop the discovery. On his website, lead researcher Mike Brown reveals that someone used publicly available abstracts and telescope logs to piece together where the new ‘planet’ was located, although there was no threat to steal the credit. Brown says that checking the logs was “chilling” and “unethical”. Maybe. Or you could just call it curiosity.