'Squirrels' scamper out to quash rumors

As the ongoing crisis at Japan's quake-hit nuclear power plant stoked fears among Chinese that radioactive dust could be drifting their way, an online group of science enthusiasts geared up to quell the panic.

Five members of the Science Squirrels Club, known for its popular website songshuhui.net, that aims to make science accessible to all, were invited by China's most popular portal sina.com on March 15 to host an online discussion on the nuclear crisis' influence on other nations via Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

You Shiyou, one of the hosts and also assistant editor-in-chief of songshuhui.net, says: "We are always keen to present the science of what goes on around us. So when the earthquake struck, we started following it right away."