鈥淭hey鈥檙e acoustically sensitive animals鈥� it should be fairly easy to direct them downriver.鈥�
Stan Minasian of the Oceanic Society, San Francisco, on how unpleasant noises could be used to send two humpback whales that have swum up the Sacramento river back to the sea (San Francisco Chronicle, 15 May)
鈥淭he rule book says a foot has to be in contact with the starting block. Is a prosthetic device a foot?鈥�
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Leon Fleiser of the South African Olympic Committee on the decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations to bar Oscar Pistorius of South Africa from competing in the Olympics because he runs on two prosthetic limbs (The New York Times, 15 May)
鈥淒o you know how many breastfed babies are admitted here with diarrhoea? The number is almost zero.鈥�
Physician Iqbal Kabir on the perils of feeding babies with formula milk in Bangladesh. Often the bottles and the water are dirty, causing vomiting, diarrhoea and even death (The Guardian, London, 15 May)
鈥淲hen you get a really fat one, it almost has trouble balancing 鈥� it鈥檚 like it has a pound of butter under its skin.鈥�
Phil Battley of Massey University in New Zealand on how the bar-tailed godwit becomes incredibly fat before it begins its migration from New Zealand to Alaska (BBC News online, 14 May)
鈥淭he more you get into medicine, the more you realise how much of an art there is to it. It鈥檚 not just about science.鈥�
Amanda Leicht of the Medical College of Virginia on being taught techniques used by actors in order to help doctors recognise body language and emphathise better with patients (The Washington Post, 15 May)