Can cats smile?

Are you happy to see me or is that the 'flehmen response'?

Cats have the muscular ability to make facial expressions that resemble smiling, but
it’s nothing to do with happiness! Certain odours, especially pheromone-rich ones
like urine, can trigger the ‘flehmen response’, where cats draw scent particles to the
roof of their mouth to be analysed by their extra sensory receptor, the Jacobson’s
organ. This behaviour is characterised by curled lips, a tilted head and squinting
eyes – all of which can look like smiling. Cats may also bare their teeth in a kind of
grin when feeling aggressive. Positive signs of a contented cat include purring, slow-
blinking, paw-kneading, head-rubbing, meowing and tail-flicking – but never smiling!

How do parrots ‘talk’?

Polly wants a cracker... Our feathery friends learn from their flock.

In the wild, parrots live in flocks and they learn to copy the ‘catchphrases’ of their
own flock, as a way of telling who belongs to the flock and who is an outsider. Scans
show that parrot brains have a different structure from songbirds’, and this can help
to explain why they’re so good at vocal learning. In captivity, alone in a cage, the
only vocalisations available to parrots are human speech, so they naturally learn to
imitate this instead.

UK DNA project hits major milestone with 100,000

genomes sequenced
The UK’s 100,000 Genomes Project has hit its target of sequencing the complete genetic
blueprints of 100,000 National Health Service patients with cancers and rare diseases.
Data from the genomes is set to both benefit the 85,000 patients who contributed their DNA
and to assist medical research. The project has now hit 100,249 genomes sequence – more than
the number of patients because every participant with cancer has three genomes
sequenced. Two are taken from healthy and cancerous cells within a tumour and the third is
taken from blood.
Currently the project is focusing on some 17 cancers, including both common and rare forms,
and around 1200 rare diseases affecting children and adults.

An estimated 4000 patients with rare diseases have been told about potentially important
findings from the data set. Cancer patients have received more than 11,500 reports so far, half
of which could be clinically useful.
“We are leading the world in genomics and this is a major milestone in our mission to provide
truly personalised care to help patients live longer, healthier and happier lives,” said UK health
secretary Matt Hancock. “I’m incredibly excited about the potential of this type of technology to
unlock the next generation of treatments, diagnose diseases earlier and enable patients to take
greater control of their own health.”

There are now plans to expand the 100,000 Genomes Project over the next five years with a
new target of one million whole genomes, or even five million with the assistance of research
and industry partners.