The world - Dec. 9, 2010

THURSDAY

NASA announced the finding of a bizarre bacterium that thrives on arsenic in a strange, salty lake in California. The bacteria, called Halomonadaceae, not only feeds off the toxic element, but incorporates aresenic directly into it’s DNA.

Chris Voigt, chief of the Washington State Potato Commission, ended a self-imposed diet of only potatoes that allowed him to shed 20 pounds in two months. Voigt also lowered his blood sugar and cut his cholesterol by one-third. He began the diet to protest a federal rule that barred families from purchasing potatoes with vouchers from the Women, Infa...