鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to get a lot of spiders together and feed them a whole lot of food to make a web that big.鈥�
Texas state biologist Mike Quinn describes how a vast spider鈥檚 web has appeared along almost 200 metres of pathway in Lake Tawakoni State Park. The origin of the web is puzzling experts (The New York Times, 31 August)
鈥淏ushmeat hunting is the most common factor pressing upon antelope populations. In the old days, this was for local consumption. Now it includes tables in far-off cities that, incredibly, extend to London and Paris.鈥�
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Ecologists Tim Caro and Paul Scholte describe in the African Journal of Ecology how animals within Africa鈥檚 national parks are coming under increasing pressure (BBC online, 3 September)
鈥淚 am an engineer, a master of calculation and tabulation. I write out hypotheses for hours, I reject and I prove them again. I make plans based on reason and proof.鈥�
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his calculations as an engineer as well as his belief in God convince him that Iran will not be attacked by western powers trying to end its nuclear programme (Reuters, 3 September)
鈥淭his is like switching off a car engine, but there鈥檚 still petrol left in the tank, so it could be driven again.鈥�
Anonymous source commenting on news that North Korea has agreed to declare and dismantle its nuclear weapons programme (The Guardian, London, 3 September)
鈥淚t鈥檚 a form of prostitution. It鈥檚 gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity, and it should not be permitted.鈥�
Palaeontologist Richard Leakey on fears that the 鈥渕issing link鈥� fossil Lucy will be damaged by a tour around the US (The Times, London, 3 September)