鈥淎ssessing ecosystems without taking into account the fungi is like taking care of computers but not the chips inside.鈥�
Joan Kelley of the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International in Wallingford, UK, warning that the study of fungi in the UK could end in 10 years because it is no longer taught at universities (The Independent, London, 28 November)
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a bit like a long-drawn-out Agatha Christie mystery.鈥�
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Rom Whitaker of the Madras Crocodile Bank, on deducing what is killing the large crocodilians called gharials in India鈥檚 Chambal river. He now believes gharials feed on toxin-laden fish downstream in the polluted Yamuna river (BBC News Online, 2 December)
鈥淭he South African government acted as a major obstacle in the provision of medication to patients.鈥�
Pride Chigwedere of Harvard University, and colleagues, on their calculation that more than 330,000 people died in South Africa because former president Thabo Mbeki mistrusted conventional healthcare policy on HIV and AIDS (The Guardian, London, 27 November)
鈥淭his provides the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent.鈥�
Ethan Russo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on his team鈥檚 discovery of a 2700-year-old, 789-gram stash of marijuana, buried in a tomb in Turpan, China (The Canadian Press, 2 December)
鈥淲e sent out another warning about very high tides this morning.鈥�
Leonardo Cossutta of the tide prediction centre in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday鈥檚 flooding 鈥� the day after flood waters reached their highest in 22 years (The New York Times, 2 December)