Six legs do not an insect make THE idea that all six-legged animals are insects has been turned on its head, along with the theory that all such creatures evolved from a common ancestor. Flightless springtails are actually more closely related to crustaceans such as the hermit crab and brine shrimp than to insects such as locusts. An analysis of mitochondrial DNA … 51¶¯Âþ
Humans Washington diary THE venerable seat of nuclear knowledge in the US has been at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the desert hills of New Mexico ever since the first atomic bomb was developed there in the 1940s. But the laboratory is now in hot water. Last year it was revealed that lab workers had been charged with … Opinion
Night of the mosquito hunters If there are 250,000 bats in a colony and each one eats 3375 mosquitoes in a night, how long will it take the bats to rid one Texan swamp of malaria? Charles Campbell, a doctor in San Antonio, did the sums and was convinced that bats could consume enough mosquitoes to eradicate the disease from … Features
Starry life 80 Not Out: My autobiography by Patrick Moore, Contender Books, £17.99, ISBN 1843570483 AIRBORNE crockery – flying saucers to the rest of us – does not impress astronomer Patrick Moore. The wonders of the heavens, cricket and chess do. So also does the memory of the young woman he wanted to marry. Now 60 years … Books & Arts
Feedback IN ONE of Britain's most ancient and revered centres of learning – yes, we're talking about the University of Oxford – doors in some of the more modern, 20th-century buildings were designed so that they close automatically, for fire safety and heat conservation reasons. Unfortunately, more recent regulations aimed at preventing accusations of sexual harassment … Regulars