On the radar

The pick of the science news...

Nosey leech

If you are squeamish or eating, you might want to skip this bit.

Scientists have published details of a newly discovered leech that was taken from the nose of a nine-year-old girl in Peru after her parents had noticed a black worm moving in her right nostril.

"With some effort, a 65–70mm black leech was removed without significant bleeding from the patients nasal cavity, and was preserved in ethanol," write the researchers in the journal PLoS One.

Unlike any other leech previously described, this new taxon – named Tyrannobdella rex – has but a single jaw with very large teeth.

Man on asteroid

With plans shelved to send humans back to the Moon, US president Barak Obama said visiting an asteroid is the new frontier.

“By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space. We’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history,” he said in Florida last week.

“By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it.”

"It's not going to destroy the planet but is it going to be a planet worth living in if you have a load of breezy people who go around saying yaka-wow. Is that the society we want?  -Prof Susan Greenfield on spending too much time on computer games and online. The term "yaka-wow" was soon popping up on social networking websites and blogs. (The Times)

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