Surprises
Fish once labeled a ‘living fossil’ surprises scientists again
The coelacanth – a wondrous fish that was thought to have gone extinct along with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago before unexpectedly being found alive and well in 1938 off South Africa’s east coast – is offering up even more surprises. Scientists said a new study of these large and nocturnal deep-sea denizens shows that they boast a lifespan about five times longer than previously believed – roughly a century – and that females carry their young for five years, the longest-known gestation period of any animal. Focusing on one of the two living species of coelacanth (pronounced SEE-lah-canth), the scientists also determined that it develops and grows at among the slowest pace of any fish and does not reach sexual maturity until about age 55. The researchers used annual growth rings depo...
2023: APC’ll win Delta if leaders are less cantankerous – Cairo Ojougboh
Immediate past Interim Executive Director of Project, EDP on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Cairo Ojougboh, has said the All Progressives Congress, APC has a better prospect to win Delta State in 2023 if the leaders of the party could cooperate, began to be less cantankerous and do not match their ambition with hostility with other party members. Ojougboh who stated this while speaking on the sidelines of sensitisation of party members in Ika South on the registration/revalidation exercise of the party said the APC remained the most popular party in Delta but lamented that members have not been able to utilise such popularity to win elections over the years because of squabbles among leaders. Hear him: “APC is the most popular party in Delta State for a very ...
Wuhan’s coronavirus survivors share lessons one year on
In late 2019, Wuhan businesswoman Duan Ling and her surgeon husband Fang Yushun began to hear snippets in hospital chat groups about a disease emerging in the city’s respiratory wards. Duan didn’t pay much attention at first. Fang had that year returned from a stint studying in the United States, and the pair, both 36-years-old, were planning a family, starting a costly round of fertility treatments. “But as more and more news came, we began to realise this was something different from previous infectious diseases,” said Duan. In just over a month, Fang would become one of the first people in the world to contract what came to be known as COVID-19, which has since infected over 74 million worldwide and killed more than 1.5 million. During the early days of the outbreak, the city’s hospital...
