Frozen fur
Japan plans to put the first complete frozen mammoth on display in just over a year. Organisers of the Expo 2005 world exposition in Aichi prefecture signed an agreement on 16 January to excavate a woolly mammoth in Sakha, Russia. So far, only the head, tusks and left forefoot have been unearthed from the permafrost.
Cot-death rethink
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Mothers should not be convicted of murdering their children solely on the basis of some experts鈥� opinion that it is unlikely for more than one child in the same family to die of cot death (SIDS), the UK鈥檚 attorney general ruled on Monday. He said supporting evidence is needed until SIDS is better understood, and ordered a review of 258 such convictions.
Hotbed of activity
The demilitarised zone between North and South Korea could become an ecosystem preservation area. South Korean environment minister Han Myung-sook said on 13 January that she will ask North Korea to submit a joint application for a preservation order to UNESCO. The 4-kilometre- wide zone was created in 1953 and is home to over 2700 species of animals and plants.
Security catch-22
It鈥檚 just as well that the US鈥檚 heightened security alert over Christmas didn鈥檛 presage a real biological attack. It emerged last week that tight security grounded a huge consignment of a British-made smallpox vaccine, meant to arrive in the US in December. It will now be flown out in February.
End of an era
Time has run out for Hubble. On 16 January, NASA cancelled the final service mission to the space telescope, scheduled for 2006, because of concerns over the safety of the space shuttle. Hubble was due to retire in 2010 but failing gyroscopes are likely to kill it more quickly.