Last week was ...

Sunday 20 April 1997 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

an Alcoholic Week for fruit-flies, as the New Scientist reported the experiments in California in which alcohol vapour was piped into a container in which frutit-flies were climbing a miniature staircase. The device, called an "inebriometer" showed that some flies were more susceptible than others to the effects of alcohol (they fell down the stairs faster). The research was thus able to identify genes associated with alcohol susceptibility and tolerance.

a Bad Week for rats, as the "cash-for-rodents" campaign in Vietnam, which offered 200 to 300 dong (about 1.5p) for each rat's tail, was reported to have resulted in the deaths of eight million rats.

an Understanding Week for dogs, as canine counsellors took to the streets of Paris to advise owners on where their dogs ought and ought not to be encouraged to leave their excrement.

an Evasive Week for gnomes as 11,000 garden gnomes were seized for illegally travelling through Belgium in an attempt to avoid customs duty.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in