A man who stuffed a dead mouse into his Taco Bell burrito in a botched extortion attempt was sentenced Friday to 16 to 30 months in prison. Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of attempted false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000.

A very low calorie diet can help the heart age more slowly, according to researchers who released what they call the first-ever human study on the subject. The findings confirmed earlier studies on mice and rats that demonstrate the cardiac benefits of a restricted calorie diet. The study looked at the heart function of 25 members of the Caloric Restriction Society, ages 41 to 64, who consume 1,400 to 2,000 nutritionally balanced calories per day. They were compared to 25 people who eat a typical Western diet, consuming 2,000 to 3,000 daily calories on average.

Australia - land of sun, sand and. . . a few surfing mice? Australian surfing enthusiast Shane Willmott is training three mice by the names of Harry, Chopsticks and Bunsen, to surf small waves on tiny mouse-size surf boards at beaches on Australia's Gold Coast. The mice are put through some tough training in a bathtub first and then have their fur dyed when it is time to hit the beach.