A few months ago, the news buzzed with reports that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had received an unusual honor. They had each had a species of slime-mold beetle named after them, courtesy of scientists at Cornell University. Debates raged on Internet chat rooms and blogs: Could the scientists be serious? Was it really an honor to be associated with such a creature as a slime-mold beetle?