On the Record

“We sent authors $5 cheques. One altered it to $6,005 and tried to cash it.”

William Gardner, of the University of Pittsburgh, on the fate of money sent to thank participants in a study of clinical-trial publication practices.

“If this makes the climate loonies in the States realize we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation.”

John Lawton, chairman of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, speaks out on the unusually fierce US hurricane season.

Source: The Independent

Scorecard

Migrating birds

Spring and autumn will be darker in New York City. To reduce the number of birds hitting skyscrapers, lights above 40th floors must be turned off at midnight during migration.

Displaced dolphins

Hurricane Katrina threw eight trained dolphins from a Mississippi aquarium into the Gulf of Mexico. Marine biologists have now ‘rescued’ them back into captivity.

Mosquitoes

Scientists are developing a hormone therapy that aims to make mosquitoes urinate themselves to death.

Overhyped

Missing the win would hurt more

How bad is that pain? Medical emergencies aren't so urgent during a major sports event, as research has shown. Now scientists in baseball-crazy Boston have quantified the effect (J. S. Brownstein et al. Ann. Emerg. Med., in the press). During league championships in 2004, when the local Red Sox looked set to lose, emergency-room visits were 15% higher than expected during such an event. By the time the Sox were winning the World Series (the first time since 1918), visits fell to 15% fewer than expected.