鈥淭he evidence was complete and the death sentence was appropriate.鈥�
A Chinese court justifies the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu, ex-director of the state food and drug administration, found guilty of taking bribes to authorise sub-standard medicines that led to several deaths (Xinhua news agency, 10 July)
鈥淸It] would pretty much slay any curator or librarian to have such a large error bar, but astronomy often has high numbers: 100,000 is OK.鈥�
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Alison Doane, curator of the collection of glass photographic plates at Harvard College Observatory that contain 100 years鈥� worth of images of the sky, on how the observatory might have 500,000 plates, give or take 100,000 (The New York Times, 10 July)
鈥淧itching is incredibly hard. I think I鈥檒l stick to physics.鈥�
German physicist Sebastian Martin on how difficult it is to pitch a baseball. A team at San Francisco鈥檚 Exploratorium that included a physicist and a former baseball player tried to teach Martin the art and science of pitching (The San Francisco Chronicle, 9 July)
鈥淚 have often imagined the streets of Tucson or Phoenix as abandoned, and it鈥檚 a bit scary.鈥�
Climate scientist Julie Cole of the University of Arizona, drawing parallels between the current dry conditions in the American Southwest and droughts during the 12th and 13th centuries that led to the downfall of the thriving Anasazi civilisation in New Mexico (National Public Radio, 9 July)
鈥淭his will be a period of cold turkey for him. He has become addicted to human laughter and applause.鈥�
A staff member at Berlin zoo, home of Knut, the 7-month-old polar bear that has become the poster child for climate change, on how he is getting cranky and needs to be weaned away from humans (The Times, London, 10 July)