鈥淭hat鈥檚 one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.鈥�
The phrase uttered by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon. Acoustic analysis software has shown he did include the semantically vital 鈥渁鈥� in the line, but said it too quickly to be heard. Armstrong feared he had fluffed the line (The Times, London, 2 October)
鈥淭he US extreme threat of a nuclear war, sanctions and pressure compel [North Korea] to conduct a nuclear test.鈥�
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A statement by North Korea鈥檚 foreign ministry, declaring the country will carry out a nuclear weapons test to bolster its self-defence (The New York Times, 3 October)
鈥淚t would be a travesty to fire howitzers into the heart of one of our wildest natural lands.鈥�
Steve Thompson of the US National Parks Conservation Association on plans by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to bombard Glacier National Park with artillery shells to safely trigger avalanches. The railway is seeking federal permission for the plan (The Washington Post, 2 October).
鈥淭he temptation to associate fetal movements with adult movements 鈥� it鈥檚 sucking its thumb because it鈥檚 happy, it鈥檚 walking because it鈥檚 going somewhere 鈥� is incredibly dangerous.鈥�
Fetal medicine consultant Donald Peebles of University College London, warning against the misperception of filmed fetuses as conscious and sentient beings (BBC online, 3 October)
鈥淭he iceberg shattered like a gracile wine glass being sung to by a heavy soprano.鈥�
Douglas MacAyeal of the University of Chicago, Illinois, describing how a storm in Alaska last October produced a swell that six days later destroyed a huge Antarctic iceberg (CNN, 3 October)