For more than a century, psychological researchers have used the word "subjects" to describe the people who volunteer for experiments, says The New York Times. Now the American Psychological Association wants to retire the term. "Subjects," it contends, is too impersonal, stripping people of their individuality, their humanity. "Participants" is a better word, the group's publication manual advises. For people such as infants or patients with Alzheimer's, who haven't technically consented, the APA suggests the term "individuals."

The Rev. George Malkmus of North Carolina is one of several Christian clergy promoting Bible-based food plans. His concept, the Hallelujah Diet, draws on Genesis 1:29, banning all animal products except for honey and promoting an 80 per cent raw diet. In biblical times, he says, people who subsisted on a raw diet lived an average of 912 years. The Rev. Malkmus does employ a scientific researcher, who determined that the Hallelujah Diet was deficient in vitamin B-12. "This shocked me, that God's perfect plan could have a flaw," the clergyman said. "But we realized that fruits and vegetables back then were more nutritious because of the topsoil."

Matilda the hen, 14, of Alabama is certified by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living chicken, says The Associated Press. The normal lifespan for her species is seven or eight years. Matilda, who works with magician Keith Barton (Mort the Mystifying), has never laid eggs -- Mrs. Barton believes that has contributed to her long life -- and she gets tucked in at night.