“This is unprecedented in this area of Antarctica. We’ve known that it’s been out of balance for some time, but nothing in the natural world is lost at an accelerating exponential rate like this glacier.”

Andrew Shepherd, of Leeds University, comments on his research showing the surface of Pine Island glacier in Antarctica is dropping 16 metres a year (BBC).

“If we can understand this biological pathway, perhaps we can come up with a therapeutic compound. Maybe we can help people sleep less in a safe way.”

Ying-Hui Fu’s research team has identified a gene related to the amount of sleep humans appear to need (Times).

“I don’t know that the program makes a whole lot of environmental sense. There is not a whole lot of justification for the classic car industry to block older vehicles from being traded in.”

Lena Pons, of the Public Citizen group, discusses why cars deemed ‘too old’ cannot be traded in under the cash-for-clunkers programme designed to get the most polluting vehicles off American roads (LA Times).