IRISHMAN Des Tobin, the first scientist to grow human hair pigment cells in the laboratory, is professor of cell biology at Bradford University.

IN the August edition of Scientific American, Rachel Caspari of the University of Michigan claims that old people made a vital contribution to the early development of our species.

At its AGM last week, the Zoological Society of Ireland elected its first lady president.

A MAP on the EcoJel website shows locations at which people were stung by jellyfish this year.

THERE’S an interesting paper in the current edition of the journal Ringing & Migration.

TWO films, in which chimpanzees are the main characters, are being shown in Irish cinemas.

THERE’S an interesting paper on eider ducks in the current edition of Irish Birds.

THERE’S good news on the bird front; little terns seem to have bred successfully this summer.

NEWBRIDGE House, a fine 18th Century mansion in north County Dublin, was the ancestral home of the Cobbe family, whose ranks included an archbishop and a Lord Lieutenant.

EVERY animal group has its celebrity species.