The answer to one of rock's great naming questions may well have been definitively answered this past week when a researcher poking around in the garden of John Lennon's boyhood home found four rare species of -- you guessed it -- beetles.

Britain's National Trust, which now owns the Liverpool property, announced that a survey revealed the presence of a wasp beetle, which mimics wasps, along with three species of ladybird beetles as well as wood mice and even several kinds of frogs. Lennon, who lived in this house, belonging to his aunt and uncle, from the mid-'40s through the early '60s, is said to have written a slew of early Beatles songs there -- none of which, as far as we can tell, were overly amphibian-influenced. Then again, the bumper vegetable crop of 1961 might've, er, planted the seed for 'Give Peas a Chance.'

There's a lot more than just answers blowin' in the wind around Bob Dylan's home in Malibu, Calif. -- much to the dismay of his neighbors.

Folks who live near the folk-rock bard's homestead are none too pleased with the aromas emanating from a portable toilet set up in his backyard, which are so strong that a neighboring family claims to have been taken ill from the noxious odors. One resident says he's had to set up five industrial-grade fans to blow the stench back toward Dylan's property.

Town officials have begun an investigation after receiving multiple complaints from neighbors who feel they're tangled up in poo and that Dylan has ignored their concerns. However, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter needn't worry about long-lasting damage to his rep. Since the waste in question all came from workmen doing renovations on the spread, he can still make the claim that his own ... shall we say, "stuff" ... doesn't stink.

We'd imagine that most artists would object to the idea of being tossed in a hole and covered with dirt -- but Duffy has taken to the notion quite well. In fact, the Welsh singer has fully endorsed a horticulturalist who's developed a new strain of flowering bulb that bears her name.

The Duffy-dil, as it's known, will be have its first public viewing after it blooms in April, at the Royal Horticultural Society's annual show in Cardiff, Wales. While we have nothing against the 'Rockferry' gal, we sincerely hope the trend of musically-themed flora stops before someone gets around to breeding one of those really stinky plants and dubbing it the Limp Hibiscus.

We thought that everyone knew the act of singing a pop song wasn't rocket science, but a group of British eggheads apparently didn't get that memo -- and have gone all apoplectic over the album Mariah Carey released recently. The members of Sense About Science have belatedly begun complaining about the title of 'E = MC2,' not so much because Albert Einstein hasn't gotten his fair share of royalties, but because the singer has been messing with the minds of impressionable children with her explanation of its meaning.

In contrast to good ol' Uncle Al, who spent eons coming up with the theory of relativity -- summarized as energy times the speed of light squared -- the diva claimed her equation to signify "emancipation equals Mariah Carey times two." We haven't witnessed this sort of ruckus since the world's mathematicians went on a rampage over the "one, two, three, fourteen" in U2's 'Vertigo.'

While some longstanding mysteries -- what's really inside Area 51, for instance -- may never be solved, the legend of Van Halen's "no brown M&M's" concert rider has finally been explained, thanks to the estate of a concert promoter, which dusted off a copy for the folks at the Smoking Gun.

The 10-page document does indeed make the colorful candy demand, along with a passel of other outrageous requests -- all of which were alleged to have been concocted in order to determine if the bean-counters were actually paying attention to more important matters -- including providing four-pronged metal forks, and a few packs of a specific brand of cigarettes (but oddly, not a selection of groupies from obscure Soviet republics).

The M&M demand didn't even strike us as the oddest one in the rider, which also requires the backstage presence of canned malt liquor, herring in sour cream and a single tube of K-Y Jelly -- the last of which affirms our belief that the band that lubes together really rocks the rubes together.

Dave Stewart showed the world that he knew a thing or two about beats per minute during his stint in Eurythmics, but he's taking that concept to a decidedly new level in his latest venture --marketing a high-end line of vibrators.

The grizzled rocker has joined forces with sex toy manufacturer JimmyJane to market a pair of the gadgets, which will be in the hands of consumers in time for the holidays.Proving that, despite the hippie veneer, he's not exactly a proponent of free "love," Stewart is asking fans to unzip their wallets and come up with 200 bucks for the basic chrome version of the vibrator, while the really fab phallus -- featuring a base encircled with an "eternity band" of 28 round-cut black diamonds -- will cost a cold, hard two grand. Stewart has even unsheathed his pen to write a promotional tune called 'Let's Do It Again' -- a title that's inscribed on the devices themselves -- and will make it available at jimmyjane.com starting on November 18th.

We have to give Stewart credit for being secure enough to link his name to the company's 'Little Somethings' line -- an association most trouser-stuffing musos would never make.

George Michael has repeatedly told fans he's ashamed of himself for being arrested over incidents involving public lewdness, driving under the influence and being unnecessarily mean to pigeons -- oh, it's only a matter of time for the last one transpires -- but his self-esteem doesn't seem to have suffered all that much.

The singer is reportedly getting ready to shell out over two million dollars for a rendering of his face made of 24-karat gold studded with diamonds, the medium of choice for artist Laban Roomes, who was featured on a recent BBC documentary about folks able to reel in well-heeled suckers (or, as the Beeb prefers to put it, who "demonstrate the entrepreneurial spirit). We'd never begrudge ol' George his bust, but we hope he's willing to throw a bone to former Wham-mate Andrew Ridgeley by ponying up a few bucks for his own doppelganger made from aluminum foil and Raisinets.