Marriage helps men live longer

And other stories from the stranger side of life

An elderly couple
(Image credit: Moyan Brenn)

Marriage may help men live longer, research has found. Lifelong bachelors are twice as likely to die from heart failure as men who get married, according to a study of 6,800 American adults. Men who had never married were 2.2 times more likely to die within five years of a diagnosis than those who had “tied the knot”, said The Times, while for women there was no link between marital status and their risk of death from heart failure. Experts believe this is because women are better at looking after themselves.

Korea’s ‘DMZ zone’ becomes haven for wildlife

The demilitarised zone between North and South Korea has become a “haven for wildlife”, said CNN. Newly-released Google street view images show more than 6,100 species thriving in the 160-mile zone, ranging from reptiles and birds to plants. Google said that of Korea’s 267 endangered species, 38% live in the DMZ, because it has “built up a new ecosystem not seen around the cities and has become a sanctuary for wildlife”.

Welsh farmers break their own sunflower record

A Welsh family broke their own Guinness World Record when they harvested a sunflower head that weighed 14.21 pounds. Kevin Fortey, a farmer, who grew the colossus with help of his relatives, said he was “shocked” by the weight of “the monster flower”. The new sunflower weighed 2.71 pounds more than the Fortey family’s previous record-breaking sunflower head, which was harvested in 2021, noted UPI.

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