THE WATER COOLER

Here are a few things in news, entertainment and popular culture that we've been talking about lately.

* In the past two years alone, cave explorers at Nevada's Great Basin National Park have discovered at least seven new species of cave critter. If you want to crawl around dark, confined spaces to search for strange forms of life, why not just spend Saturday night at a Las Vegas nightclub?

* A British study says kids who eat too many sugary treats risk becoming violent in adulthood. Well, sure, once that 18-year-long sugar high wears off.

* Hollywood is aghast over director Roman Polanski's arrest on charges that he had sex with a 13-year-old in 1977. Hollywood: Sharing America's values since never.

* A fossilized T. Rex fails to attract a minimum price at a Las Vegas auction. Not even the "My paleontologist went to Las Vegas and all I got was this crummy dinosaur" inscription could make it move.

* A terrorist commits a suicide bombing with an explosive inserted, at least one report says, into his rectum. Can't wait to see what new screening measure the TSA's going to come up with now, and just in time for the holiday travel season!

JOHN PRZYBYS (jprzybys@reviewjournal.com)