Slower than the turtle
The infamous Indian bureaucracy beat the turtle literally this time. Two scientists who desired to conduct a study on the endangered Olive ridley turtle on the coast of the eastern state of Orissa were left with no option but to suspend their project because the government delayed its approval beyond the nesting period of the turtles. Pamela Plotkin of the Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA, and Priyambada Mohanty-Hejmadi of the Sambalpur University, India, were stranded with costly equipment, including 12 batteries worth US $10,000, which were meant to be used in transmitters attached to the turtles to monitor their movements via satellite. Permission was delayed as government scientists feared that signals would disrupt communications at a nearby missile testing site. Very little is known about the migratory patterns of Olive ridleys ( Science , Vol 276, No 5320).