THE BODY BEAUTIFULWhy do men have nipples? Hilda Bird, Lagos, Portugal
Because we are built to a common pattern. All people contain the genetic information to be either male or female, but in the vast majority of people only one alternative develops. All humans are born with rudimentary potential breasts. In the case of women they are triggered to develop hormonally as a secondary sexual characteristic. Men not only have nipples, but undeveloped (pre-pubescent) breasts.
James BondObituaryZena MarshallActor who played the exotic Miss Taro in the Bond film Dr NoZena Marshall, who has died aged 83, played a small but pivotal part in establishing the formula of the James Bond series. As the Eurasian secretary, Miss Taro, revealed to be working for the title character in the first Bond film, Dr No (1962), while dallying with 007 (Sean Connery), she was the first of those unscrupulous, exotic beauties who, in the service of the villain, would try but fail to entrap Bond.
Bobcat Goldthwait: ‘I will defend people’s freedom of speech even when I don’t agree with what they have to say. But at the end of the day, the question is whether it’s funny.’ Photograph: Robyn Von SwankBobcat Goldthwait: ‘I will defend people’s freedom of speech even when I don’t agree with what they have to say. But at the end of the day, the question is whether it’s funny.’ Photograph: Robyn Von SwankMoviesInterviewBobcat Goldthwait: ‘There is no cancel culture’Charles Bramesco in New YorkThe outspoken comedian, actor and director talks about the state of comedy, his late friend Robin Williams and why Jerry Seinfeld has a problem with him
ReligionObituaryFather Jacques DupuisTheologian whose work was investigated by the Vatican on suspicion of heresyFather Jacques Dupuis, who has died aged 81, was a theologian who, to his horror and distress, became one of the many modern Roman Catholic thinkers who were investigated by Pope John Paul's Vatican on suspicion of heresy.
In October 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican "ministry" that is responsible for enforcing orthodoxy, told his superiors that it had opened an inquiry into his pioneering work, Toward A Christian Theology Of Religious Pluralism, which was published in 1997.
Composite: Guardian Design; Richard Griffin; DP Wildlife Flowers/Alamy; scisettialfio; gianpinox/Getty Images/iStockphotoI once fought against the dandelions, nettles and docks that infiltrated my garden. But now I know they are essential, I’m glad I lost the battle
by Alys FowlerThe path to my front door is wild. Tiny things spring from the cracks; moss creeps over the bricks, allowing foxgloves and mulleins to rise up and tower. Wild marjoram has danced from one side to another and is now taking on the top of the brick wall.
Idris Elba in Luther: The Fallen Sun. Photograph: Steve Schofield/NetflixThe London-born actor is taking Luther’s tweed coat to the big screen in The Fallen Sun, and dreams of kicking off a franchise to rival Mission Impossible. And he’s still finding time to write, direct, DJ and work for the UN
by Steve RoseA couple of years ago on the BBC show Famalam, comedian Tom Moutchi did an amusing sketch called Idris Elba Can Do Anything.
Pass notesReference and languages booksSchmeat: a tasty-sounding word, but what does it mean?Oxford Dictionaries' intriguing runner-up for word of the year refers to the synthetic meat grown from a soup of antibiotics and foetal bovine serum. Feel schick yet?Age: About six months.
Appearance: Almost like the real thing.
Schmeat? Schwat? It's one of the runners-up for Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year.
Schwat does it schmean? You know, that could get real old, real fast.
UkraineUkrainian shelling of Donetsk shopping area kills dozens, local officials sayRussian-installed mayor and governor say another 20 people were injured in attack on occupied city in eastern Ukraine
At least 25 people have been killed after Ukrainian forces shelled a busy suburban shopping area in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to local officials.
Alexei Kulemzin, the city’s Russian-installed mayor, said Ukrainian artillery had fired on a bustling district where shops and a market are located.
Science and nature booksRobert Macfarlane remembers JA Baker’s The Peregrine – a fierce, ecstatic, prophetic account of one man’s obsession that has held readers in its talon-like grip for 50 years
JA Baker’s The Peregrine is 50 years old, but it feels as if it were written yesterday. In the half century since its publication, this fierce little book has only tightened its talon grip on us. It reads now as uncannily prophetic: of the Anthropocene (our geological age, in which human activity is now the dominant influence on the environment), of extinction events, of dark ecology – even of virtual reality.
Washington state This article is more than 1 month oldWestern gray squirrel placed on endangered list in Washington stateThis article is more than 1 month oldMajor wildfires in 2014 and 2015 killed a multitudinous number and destroyed vast swaths of their natural territory
A rare species of gray squirrel has been placed on the endangered list by wildlife officials in Washington state as escalating climate emergency and land overdevelopment rob the rodents of their habitat.