Rants

» An aggressive squirrel injured three people in Germany Thursday, including a 70-year-old woman who ran down the street with the squirrel on her head.

» Chinese authorities destroyed a gold- and copper-plated, 30-foot Tibetan statue in the territory’s oldest monastery Friday.

Raves

» The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., found a way to convert naturally occurring sugars in plants into plastics, providing a potential alternative to oil.

» Johns Hopkins University researchers found that newly created adult neurons may help old cells adapt to experiences and be useful in rejuvenating aging brains.