鈥淔olks make mistakes. I don鈥檛 think it would serve any effective purpose to try to point fingers.鈥�
Harold Davis, associate vice-president for research at the University of Texas at Austin, who last week admitted that the university had reported only three of 13 laboratory accidents involving pathogens since January 2000 (Austin American-Statesman, 13 September)
鈥淐ouples don鈥檛 realise what they have in each other. It鈥檚 like a gold mine they鈥檙e not mining.鈥�
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Psychologist Carolyn Shaffer on how the modern trend of using drugs such as Viagra and hormone-replacement therapies to spice up couples鈥� sex lives may not be as effective as simple things like communicating with each other and fostering closeness (The Washington Post, 18 September)
鈥淲ater fowl usually carry the virus without showing any symptoms. This time, 10,000 of them died in a very short period 鈥� this could be something quite new.鈥�
Lo Wing-lok of the Hong Kong Society for Infectious Diseases on an outbreak of H5N1 flu that has killed 10,000 ducks in two weeks in Guangdong province, China (Bloomberg, 18 September)
鈥淚s the choice between losing your life and losing everything really a choice?鈥�
John Seffrin of the American Cancer Society on its change of emphasis from cancer prevention to a campaign to make cancer drugs and tests available to everyone under the US healthcare system (Reuters, 17 September)
鈥淚t smells like mammoth dung.鈥�
Climate change scientist Sergei Zimov, after picking up muddy ooze from thawing permafrost in northern Siberia. Global warming is beginning to expose the organic leftovers of prehistoric animals that once roamed the region (MSNBC.com, 17 September)