Taxi driver agrees to be mummified, and more

A British taxi driver has been mummified as part of a science experiment.

Taxi driver agrees to be mummified

A British taxi driver has been mummified as part of a science experiment. Alan Billis, 61, volunteered for the project upon being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. After his death in January, scientists from York University removed Billis’s internal organs, slowly desiccated the body in a bath of salt, then wrapped it in linen—the same process used by Egyptians to mummify King Tut and other royalty 3,000 years ago. It will all be part of a TV documentary. “Shame I’m not going to be around to see it,” said Billis before his death. “Because I like documentaries.”

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Twins give birth on the same day

A pair of identical twin sisters from Bloomington, Ind., have given birth to babies in the same hospital on the same day. Jennifer and Jessica Patterson, both 21, gave birth about eight hours apart. The two women, who are both unmarried, live together and conceived at about the same time, though they insist that was a coincidence. “I was like, ‘I’m pregnant,’” said Jessica. “I found out a week later,” her sister said. They said giving birth to babies on the same day was “kind of cool.”