Life has found a way – in Telford’s Exotic Zoo. A casque-headed iguana has given birth to eight babies at the Shropshire wildlife park, but without any contact with a male, via a phenomenon called parthenogenesis.

“When we confirmed the eggs were fertile without any contact with a male, our jaws hit the floor,” zoo owner Scott Adams told the BBC. “For us, it’s a powerful reminder that life finds a way in the most unexpected circumstances.”

What is parthenogenesis?
A type of asexual reproduction, in which females create offspring without fertilisation from male sex cells. The unfertilised eggs develop into embryos that are genetic clones of the mother: so basically, the female clones herself.

Parthenogenesis actually predates sexual reproduction, which evolved to introduce more genetic variation. It’s more common in plants or invertebrates than vertebrates, but has been observed among fish, snakes, sharks, lizards and even birds. What is “mind-boggling is that parthenogenesis isn’t even that rare”, said the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. It was first documented in Komodo dragons in 2006, but has since been seen in all “vertebrate lineages” except mammals.

In January, a baby swell shark, Yoko, was born at Shreveport Aquarium even though the two females in the tank “had not been in contact with a male in over three years”, a spokesperson for the Louisiana attraction said. Yoko’s birth could have been the result of delayed fertilisation: females of many shark species can store sperm inside themselves for months or even years. But there have been documented cases of parthenogenesis involving more than half a dozen shark species.

So what kicks it off?
“In general, we think parthenogenesis is a last-ditch effort for a female to pass on its genes, so when a female is isolated from conspecific males, she is able to undergo parthenogenesis,” Kevin Feldheim of Chicago’s Field Museum told NPR. “How parthenogenesis kicks in or what cues the females use to begin the process remains to be discovered.”

Organisms born via parthenogenesis, known as parthenotes, “don’t have the best track record when it comes to survivorship or fitness”, said the Smithsonian. Every zebra shark parthenote has died before reaching sexual maturity. However, one female white-spotted bamboo shark not only survived to sexual maturity but also gave birth through parthenogenesis.

Warnings about “cortisol face” and “cortisol belly” are giving the so-called stress hormone a bad reputation on social media. A “cortisol cocktail” to tackle the alleged bloating effects of chronic stress is even being touted, but does it reduce the hormone and would that be a good thing?

‘Necessary mechanism for survival’
Cortisol is one of several hormones that help regulate how our body responds to stress. It’s produced by the adrenal glands and is an essential hormone that affects almost every organ and tissue in humans, doing a range of important tasks including regulating how the body uses sugar for energy, decreasing inflammation, controlling blood pressure and helping to optimise the sleep-wake cycle.

We “couldn’t live” without cortisol, which is a “necessary mechanism of survival”, said Vogue. But it has still developed a “bad rep” in the wellness community, leading to a range of suggestions on how to counter it, including the “cortisol cocktail”. The ingredients of the cocktail vary but generally include half a cup each of orange juice and coconut water, about a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, and extra potassium or magnesium powders.

Proponents of the drink believe it can reduce high cortisol levels, but it's “unlikely” to have a meaningful effect, said The Independent, and is also “high in sugar and salt”. A better way to stabilise cortisol levels is to reduce stress, using techniques such as mindfulness, meditation and relaxation.

‘Outlandish advice’
Warnings about cortisol have “hijacked my social media accounts”, said the BBC’s health reporter Ruth Clegg. It’s enough to stress anyone out. But doctors say sudden changes in the body should be checked by a medical professional and are unlikely to be down to cortisol alone.

Some personal trainers are suggesting avoiding long-distance runs because they can lead to “cortisol belly”, said The Guardian, and influencers say “cortisol face” is down to “too much pressure in the office”. But cortisol is actually a “hero among hormones” and “something to celebrate”, so ignore the more “outlandish advice”. You can “forget cortisol belly, cortisol face and cortisol-reducing cocktails”, because without cortisol, we “wouldn’t even get out of bed in the morning”.

North Koreans bow to a mural in Pyongyang depicting the hermit kingdom’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and his son Kim Jong Il, on the 77th anniversary of the country’s creation.

BJ Warnick / Newscom / Alamy Live News

With its poetic lyrics and haunting melodies, contemporary folk music can be deeply evocative. The elusive genre is hard to pin down, often blending traditional acoustics with elements of everything from punk and pop to country and jazz. These are some of the best folk albums of the year so far.

Big Thief: Double Infinity
“Big Thief have done it again,” said Helen Brown in The Independent. The Brooklyn-based band’s bassist left last year, but their sixth album “sounds like another instant classic”. Combining “solidly crafted, soul-searching songs” with the group’s obvious “alchemical joy in jamming together”, it’s a wonderful collection of tracks. Among the album’s many “addictive grooves” is “Incomprehensible”, a thoughtful reflection on the inevitability of aging.

Folk Bitch Trio: Now Would Be A Good Time
“The members of Folk Bitch Trio are not blood-related, but you’d never know on the basis of their magnificent three-part harmonies,” said Joe Goggins in NME. The Australian indie-folk band met in high school and are only 23. But their latest album is infused with a “richness and complexity” that belies their age. “Sprinkled with strangeness”, the darkly ironic tunes span everything from “wittily drawn portraits of disastrous situationships” to “yearning from the back of the tour van”.

Zoé Basha: Gamble
This “confident” debut comes from an “exciting new voice”, said Jude Rogers in The Guardian. Basha is a Dublin-based French-American musician “whose folk music swims deftly around country, jazz, French chanson and the blues”. Her “nourishing” self-produced record is sung in “eerily bright a capellas”, with her voice swooping “high and low like the Appalachian mountain music she loves”.

Farage rises. Burnham watches. But Starmer fights on
Andrew Marr in The New Statesman
Keir Starmer’s “mortal struggle” with Reform UK is a “fight in which he is bloodied, bruised” and “no longer the favourite to win”, writes Andrew Marr. Meanwhile, it’s an “open secret” that Andy Burnham wants to “become prime minister and lead Labour in a new direction”.  Starmer “desperately” needs to “create a political edge that convinces traditional Labour people”, as “migration and economic worries” push voters “further right and left”.  This “really is a question of whether the centre can hold”.  

Is it time for driverless trains on the tube?
Anne Strickland in City A.M.
As London “grinds to a halt yet again” amid yet more strikes, the “long-term case for driverless tubes becomes undeniable”, writes TaxPayers’ Alliance researcher Anne Strickland. The “choice isn’t between expensive automation and cheap status quo; it’s between intelligent modernisation and perpetual patch-jobs that waste billions”. As driverless networks in dozens of cities worldwide have proved, automation not only avoids labour disputes but can also “provide enhanced safety, improved customer service, operational flexibility and reduced environmental impact”. 

How worried should we be about the crypto crush?
Katie Martin in the Financial Times
“For evidence of froth in financial markets right now, look no further than our trusty friend, crypto,” writes Katie Martin. Across the world, we are seeing “companies listed on regulated markets turn their back on otherwise humdrum business activities to bet it all on tokens” that are “still devoid of mainstream real-world applications”. These “extreme” fringes of financial markets “are just too upbeat for their own good”, a “warning sign that something here is not right”.