26 articles from SUNDAY 6.11.2022

Endangered Devils Hole pupfish is one of the most inbred animals known

Researchers have compiled the first genome sequences of desert pupfish from the American Southwest, including the unique Devils Hole pupfish. The genomes of the 8 Devils Hole pupfish sequenced contained an amazing number of identical stretches of DNA, amounting to 58% of the genome -- among the most inbred of any known vertebrate. Paradoxically, of 15 gene deletions, five involved adaptation to...

Last Total Lunar Eclipse for Three Years Arrives on Tuesday

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Better catch the moon’s disappearing act Tuesday — there won’t be another like it for three years. The total lunar eclipse will be visible throughout North America in the predawn hours — the farther west, the better — and across Asia, Australia and the rest of the Pacific after sunset. As an extra treat, Uranus will be visible just a...

I learned so much about life and love from my cat that when she died I had her freeze-dried…

She was with me through tough times and I craved her presence after she’d gone. Getting her memorialised was the best way I could keep her with meI am a proud Cat Lady. When my beloved Siamese of 16 years died in 2020, I realised immediately that I couldn’t live productively without a cat. I was 41 and had had her since I was 24, my entire adult life until that point. I not only mourned Lilu,...

‘Initially I thought it was a scam’: can collagen really turn back the clock?

Wrinkled skin, painful muscles, aching joints – collagen is being marketed by the supplement industry as the answer to many of the problems of ageingOf all the 20,000 or so different proteins in the human body, there is one that dominates more than any other. Without it, our cells would simply collapse in on themselves, our skeleton and blood vessels would disintegrate and we would be little...

The plot thickens: new study reveals complex identity of ancient Britons

Do bones and teeth found in Sussex share characteristics with Neanderthal fossils from northern Spain? They are the oldest human fossils ever found on British soil. Excavated 30 years ago at Boxgrove, in West Sussex, the leg bone and teeth of an early human species were subsequently dated as being around 480,000 years old.Other finds made at Boxgrove also revealed these ancient men and women were...