Mice with two dads have, for the first time, gone on to father babies of their own, showing that mice created with two sperm cells can be healthy and fertile – and paving the way for a future in which two men may be able to have a genetically related child.

How did scientists create the mice?
A team of scientists led by Yanchang Wei at China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University inserted two mouse sperm cells into a mouse egg that had been emptied of its nucleus (where the maternal DNA is contained).

Maternal and paternal chromosomes contain different imprints that "pre-programme" some genes to be active and others to be inactive, making it very challenging to combine genetic material from two parents of the same sex to produce viable offspring. Wei's team used a method called epigenome editing to "reprogramme" parts of the sperm DNA so that it could develop into an embryo, which was then placed into the uterus of a surrogate mouse mother.

What is the success rate?
Previous attempts, using a different method, failed to produce mice that were healthy or fertile. The newer method produced three living pups, two of which grew to adulthood and were able to mate successfully.  However, those two mice were the only ones to survive from the 259 embryos transferred to female surrogates. That's a 0.8% success rate.

What does it mean for humans?
The epigenome editing method shows that it is possible for genetic imprinting can be overcome – and it's regarded as a more acceptable method to use on humans than genetic modification, the effects of which are not yet fully understood.

But there are unlikely to be any children born to two fathers in the foreseeable future. The new research is "promising", Christophe Galichet at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre told the New Scientist. But it is currently "unthinkable to translate it to humans", because of the "large number of eggs required, the high number of surrogate women needed and the low success rate".

Britain's "biggest alfresco bash" is back, said Michael Hogan in The Guardian, and Glastonbury's 2025 line-up is an "extra special" one. Whether you managed to get a ticket or watch the BBC's "wall-to-wall coverage" from your sofa, these are among the best acts to catch.

Wet Leg
The "snarky alt-pop duo" (pictured above) from the Isle of Wight have turned into a "thrilling rock quintet", said The Telegraph. They perform with a "giddy sense of joy, as if they can't quite believe their explosive success", so their show on the Other Stage on Friday should be a lot of fun. Expect "angular guitar riffs" and "tartly amusing vocals".

"Patchwork"
"It's possibly the worst kept secret in the music industry," said The Times. According to SecretGlasto – a social-media account with a reputation for revealing secret Worthy Farm sets – Pulp will be playing the Pyramid Stage in a Saturday evening slot reserved for a mystery act called Patchwork.

Doechii
"Florida firecracker" Doechii is headlining the West Holts stage on Saturday night and is guaranteed to create a buzz, said Hogan in The Guardian. A "fiendish scheduling dilemma" means the rapper's set clashes with Charli XCX. "Luckily, TV viewers can flip between both."

Wolf Alice
The British alt-rock quartet "really are something special", said The Telegraph. Their "adventurous" guitar-based music has secured them a major new label and they have a new album in the works. And their Sunday set could be a chance to show that "world-beating British rock is not dead".

Chess-playing Reeves is in a political zugzwang over welfare
Helen Thomas in City A.M.
The Labour rebellion over welfare is a "flashing red warning light" that the government can't "manage the country's huge pile of debt", writes Helen Thomas. "As a chess-player", Rachel Reeves must know she's "stuck in zugzwang": if the welfare bill "falls", meeting her fiscal rules "gets harder". But to pass it, "MPs are demanding that she ease its impact, also making her job harder" as she battles to "get on top of government spending".

Celebrities do us no favours by revealing their plastic surgery details
Sarah Carson in The i Paper
"Transparency" about plastic surgery "should be applauded", writes Sarah Carson. "Don't gaslight the world" by "insisting" a "dramatic or pneumatic transformation" is "achievable for us all" through lifestyle changes alone. But the trend of cosmetically enhanced celebrities revealing "exactly what they got, right down to the cubic centimetre", threatens to "further normalise" surgery, including for people who "might never have considered it before". There’s a "very big difference between honesty and listing the specifics like it's a McDonald’s order".

What's wrong with a £30 million wedding? Bezos has done Venice a favour
Zoe Strimpel in The Telegraph
Jeff Bezos' upcoming £30 million wedding in Venice has attracted "loathing and disruption", writes Zoe Strimpel. "One can sympathise with the natural antipathy many feel": he isn't a "likeable character", the wedding isn't a "fairytale sort of romance", and in a time of "extreme income inequality", Amazon's "evasive" tax practices "sit badly". But Bezos can be "as vulgar and showy" as he likes, because it's "his money and he can do with it as he pleases".