10 stomachs, 32 brains and 18 testicles a day inside the UK's only leech farm
Health & wellbeingThey were once used to treat everything from headaches to strangulation, and leeches are still a vital part of surgery. But how are they farmed?
Six seconds. Perhaps 10. Twelve, if it is cautious or dopey. After that, the jaws will activate, the hundreds of teeth will engage, the leech will begin to eat, and its meal is your blood. Are you wading through a tropical pond in fierce humidity?
Davis, California the American city which fell in love with the bicycle | Cities
Cycling the cityCitiesDavis, California – the American city which fell in love with the bicycleIn most US cities, the share of trips made by bike struggles to reach 2%. In Davis it’s 10 times that – but the city is becoming less and less of a paradise for pedalling
Sacramento in northern California is a typical American city, in thrall to the car. Twelve miles west is the university city of Davis.
Fury in Manchester as black teenagers jailed as result of Telegram chat | Crime
Crime This article is more than 1 year oldFury in Manchester as black teenagers jailed as result of Telegram chatThis article is more than 1 year oldFour friends convicted of conspiracy offences were found ‘guilty by association’, say their supporters
A teenager considered such an inspirational youth leader he was invited to address MPs in parliament is among 10 young black men to have been jailed after being convicted of being part of a violent conspiracy.
Green-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered list | Endangered species
Endangered species This article is more than 5 years oldGreen-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered listThis article is more than 5 years oldWith its punky green mohican the striking Mary river turtle joins a new ZSL list of the world’s most vulnerable reptiles
It sports a green mohican, fleshy finger-like growths under its chin and can breathe through its genitals.
The Mary river turtle is one of the most striking creatures on the planet, and it is also one of the most endangered.
Japanese man lives dogs life in long-haired collie suit in pictures | Art and design
Japanese man lives dog’s life in long-haired collie suit – in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Man known as Toco has spent over £10,000 on a canine costume to realise his dream of transforming into a dog
Franck Robichon/EPA
Main image: Toco sits in a cart as he is pulled across a zebra crossing by a woman.
Life is comedy and tragedy: Daphne Guinness on her remarkable journey from muse to musician |
The ObserverMusicInterview‘Life is comedy and tragedy’: Daphne Guinness on her remarkable journey from muse to musicianSophie HeawoodDaphne Guinness has had the most lurid and surreal life. She talks about being kidnapped aged five, marrying a shipping magnate at 19, working with David Bowie, and finally finding peace in the recording studio
People have some wild ideas about Daphne Guinness, but the oddest one she’s ever seen, on Wikipedia, stated that she was in league with the devil.
The film Putin doesnt want the world to see: Firebird, a gay love story about fighter pilots
World cinemaIt has been accused of ‘shaming Moscow’ and ‘punching the Russian soldier in the face’. But the makers of this powerful drama about dogfights and dangerous desires refuse to be silenced
Oleg Zagorodnii is sitting in the cafe he owns in Kyiv, beneath a brightly coloured painting of Aladdin smiling down from the wall behind. “It is just me now, no baristas,” says the Ukrainian actor via video call. “People come.
A crooked heart
CultureReviewChristopher Tayler deciphers the unspoken prohibitions at work in a 1950s householdThe Story of a Marriage
by Andrew Sean Greer
195pp, Faber, £12.99
In 1953, the year in which Andrew Sean Greer's third novel is mostly set, Pearlie Cook, Greer's narrator, and her husband, Holland, are living in San Francisco with their infant son. Like many other young couples in their fogbound neighbourhood, the Cooks served their country in the recent war; Holland was a soldier in the Pacific theatre, while Pearlie - along with "
Birdgirl by Mya-Rose Craig review a prodigy takes flight
Autobiography and memoirReviewHow birdwatching helped an extraordinary young woman and her family through testing times
In deciding to write a personal memoir at the age of 20, the ornithologist and activist Mya-Rose Craig has shown considerable courage. On the one hand, she has a straightforward, if unusual, tale to tell about her life as a bird lover. She first came to attention online as the youngest person to have seen more than half of the world’s known bird species.
Dan Evans drastic lapse followed him starting to deliver on talent
The ObserverTennisDan Evans admitted in February: ‘I made a lot of wrong choices when I was younger,’ but his positive test for cocaine follows two years when he had at last focused on his tennisDan Evans has an Oscar Wilde tattoo on his left forearm that reads: “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future”.
This article could stop right there, except there are a few more nuances in the life of the player everyone knows affectionately as “Evo”, the scallywag from Hall Green in Birmingham who has just thrown his career in the bin after being busted for cocaine.