Scorecard

Emoticons

These infuriating yet useful keystroke combinations have reached their silver jubilee. They were first used in 1982 by Carnegie Mellon University's Scott Fahlman, who proposed them as an aid to electronic communication :-)

Conventional languages

Meanwhile, 20% of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing, with one going extinct every 14 days on average :-(

Number Crunch

10 is the number of strands of Ludwig van Beethoven's hair that have been used to create three diamonds, one of which is to be auctioned on eBay.

0.56 is the number of carats of the gem on sale.

$500,000 is the amount it is expected to fetch — meaning that you'll need a modern rock star's fortune if you want to be the owner.

On the record

“The International Space Station is an orbital turkey.”

Nobel-prizewinning particle physicist Steven Weinberg is less than impressed with the achievements of manned spaceflight.

Overhyped

Velociraptor

Continuing the turkey theme, palaeontologists have announced that velociraptor — far from being fearsome or scaly — actually more closely resembled the traditional holiday poultry. Did Michael Crichton mislead us all?

Sources: Associated Press, LA Times, Daily Telegraph, Space.com, Science