鈥淭his is perhaps the most important study in the last decade in terms of reducing risk of heart disease.鈥�
Daniel Rader of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on the finding that statins, which are prescribed to cut cholesterol levels, reduce the chance of heart attack and stroke even in healthy people with low cholesterol (ABC News, 10 November)
鈥淚t鈥檚 an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome.鈥�
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The Maldives鈥� newly elected president Mohamed Nasheed plans to buy up land in Sri Lanka, India or Australia to create a new homeland for the island state鈥檚 300,000 people if rising sea levels flood them out of their homes (The Guardian, London, 10 November)
鈥淧eople will continue to expect a conversation, a two-way relationship.鈥�
Thomas Gensemer of Blue State Digital, the company that built US president-elect Barack Obama鈥檚 influential online social network, warns that voters will want their online dialogue with him to continue when he is installed in the White House (The New York Times, 9 November)
鈥淲e are living on the edge. This kind of disaster can strike at any time.鈥�
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of Indonesia, issues a reminder of why his country needs the tsunami early warning system it launched this week. The network of buoys can detect an earthquake and predict within 5 minutes whether it has caused a tsunami (Australian Associated Press, 11 November)
鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 just a good place to pick up girl sharks.鈥�
Great white sharks travel huge distances to visit an isolated spot between California and Hawaii, but why they do it is a mystery. Ron O鈥橠or of the Census of Marine Life project suspects mating rituals are involved (The Daily Telegraph, London, 10 November)