鈥淚鈥檓 not one to attribute every man 鈥� activity of man to the changes in the climate. There is something to be said also for man鈥檚 activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet.鈥�
Republican candidate Sarah Palin makes her position on the causes of climate change absolutely clear in last week鈥檚 vice-presidential debate (The New York Times, 2 October)
鈥淲hy aren鈥檛 we thinking of mimicking the effects of childbirth?鈥�
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Many breast cancers are caused by the absence of hormones related to childbirth, according to Valerie Beral of the University of Oxford, who says we should use this knowledge to develop preventive medicines (The Guardian, London, 6 October)
鈥淭he surprise is there isn鈥檛 a surprise.鈥�
Physicist Mark Lancaster of University College London on the Wakeham Review of the state of UK physics. The report was commissioned amid an outcry at 拢80 million of funding cuts last year, and many physicists had feared it would contain radical recommendations for basic science (Physics World, 2 October)
鈥淔or me there is no Plan B.鈥�
UN climate chief Yvo De Boer worries that the global financial crisis could derail efforts to agree a new UN climate treaty by the end of 2009 (Reuters, 6 October)
鈥淭his meteor will be a real humdinger.鈥�
A meteor that was due to burn up in the atmosphere above Africa on Tuesday was up to 5 metres across, according to Gareth Williams of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first rock of any size to be found on a collision course with Earth (Reuters, 6 October)