“Just as people respond better to the personal touch, cows also feel happier and more relaxed if they are given a bit more one-to-one attention.”

Catherine Douglas, of Newcastle University, comments on her research showing that cows given names can produce an extra pint and a half of milk a day. Of course this probably just indicates that farmers who name their cows are generally nicer to them (Daily Mail).

“Even though we could not find a definitive explanation for this higher incidence, the existence of other ‘twin towns’ around the world – most of them in remote isolated areas with high levels of inbreeding just as Linha São Pedro – shows that external influence is not needed for this to happen.”

Ursula Matte, of the medical genetics unit at Porto Alegre Hospital in Brazil, rejects suggestions that Josef Mengele created a ‘tribe of twins’ in the city of Cândido Godói (New Scientist).

“I hereby declare a state of national emergency with particular emphasis on the existing and potentially affected counties.”

Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf takes action against a crop-devastating caterpillar problem (BBC).

“I think that whalers will be satisfied by this quota.”

Iceland Fisheries Minister Einar Gudfinnsson comments on a six-fold increase in whaling quotas (AFP).