On the Record

“I hate being cold.”

British swimmer Lewis Pugh has some qualms about attempting a record 1-kilometre swim in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean.

“On a deeper level Barbie has become inanimate...This may go some way towards explaining the violence and torture.”

Psychologist Agnes Nairn explains how young girls apparently see the ubiquitous plastic doll as a symbol of excess, triggering them to decapitate and maim their Barbies.

Sources: Reuters, The Times

Scorecard

Pygmy elephants

Miniature pachyderms in Borneo get some big attention, in the form of global positioning system collars that track their every move through the rainforest.

Sounds without words

An obscure buzzing sound present in some 70 African languages, and known as the labiodental flap, joins the International Phonetic Alphabet — the first such addition in a dozen years.

Army hygiene

Studies of body lice and dental pulp from French soldiers buried in Russia suggest that many in Napoleon's army suffered from louse-borne diseases, including typhus and trench fever.

Number Crunch

$54 is the cost of a ‘custom star kit’ through one of the many star-registry agencies that advertise buying a star in the name of a loved one — a perfect Christmas gift.

1 million people have signed up.

0 is the number of privately purchased star names recognized by the International Astronomical Union, the organization in charge of naming celestial objects.