鈥淭he notion that autism is caused by higher rainfall is manifestly absurd.鈥�
London doctor Michael Fitzpatrick on a study in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine linking rainfall to the development of autism (BBC Online, 4 November)
鈥淚鈥檓 not terribly fast at my times tables.鈥�
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Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, who this week succeeded Richard Dawkins as holder of the university鈥檚 chair in the public understanding of science (The Guardian, London, 3 November)
鈥淚 have never seen this kind of an increase in the number of applications with eggs, sperm donors or surrogates.鈥�
Cathy Ruberto, owner of a fertility clinic in Naples, Florida, attributes a spate of would-be donors to economic hard times (ABC News, 27 October)
鈥淲atching this kind of sexual content on television is a powerful factor in increasing the likelihood of a teen pregnancy.鈥�
Behavioural scientist Anita Chandra of the Rand Corporation on a study in Pediatrics that found teenage boys and girls who viewed the most sexual content on TV were most likely to be involved in a pregnancy (The Washington Post, 3 November)
鈥淎 shrimp dealing with an infection is less active, and limited in its ability to migrate, find food, and avoid being eaten.鈥�
David Scholnick of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, who helped build an underwater treadmill to compare the fitness of sick and healthy shrimps. A video of the jogging shrimp has shot to internet fame (The Daily Telegraph, London, 4 November)