On the Record

“The station is like an old suitcase whose handle is missing... it's totally useless, but you just can't bear to part with it.”

A former space explorer gets sentimental about the ailing International Space Station

Scorecard

Pine trees

Australian forestry authorities have netted around US$1 million by auctioning off some ancient trees. Nearly 300 cuttings taken from Wollemi pines, rare fossil trees that grow in a secret grove in the mountains near Sydney, were sold by Sotheby's on 23 October.

Giant squid

Actor and wannabe rock star Kevin Bacon has penned a song to honour the giant squid, photographed last month by Japanese scientists.

Consumption

Disease experts are speculating that tuberculosis and infertility were partly to blame for the gloomy view of humanity displayed by author George Orwell in his dystopic novel 1984.

Number Crunch

Hurricane Wilma

On 18 October, Hurricane Wilma screamed into life, just two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf Coast region. By the time Wilma hit the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, on 21 October, it had set a record for the strongest hurricane ever to rise from the Atlantic Basin.

882 millibars was the record-setting low pressure reached by Wilma at its peak.

888 millibars was the previous record for Atlantic hurricane intensity, set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.

870 millibars was the peak intensity of 1979's Super Typhoon Tip, which holds the record for the strongest and largest cyclone.

Source: US National Oceanic and Atmopsheric Administration