At night, I would leave a white sheet and UV light in my backyard, rising at 5 am to inspect the harvest. By the time I was an adult, I could identify about 700 butterfly and moth species by sight In 1972, I moved to Australia and continued collecting. I started to struggle. The species on the other side of the world were so different from those at home. Then, through the 1970s, I led expeditions to Papua New Guinea to collect moths in the mountains. One night, we turned on our lights and ended up collecting more than 2,000 different species from a single spot.
The process of identifying each of them felt overwhelming. I gave up.
Two decades later, I was in a supermarket and an idea started to develop: what if a segment of DNA could be used to differentiate between species? Just 13 lines on barcodes were being used to identify everything around me.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 24, 2024 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 24, 2024 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Union anger after Boeing makes 'divisive' final offer to end strike
A union representing 33,000 striking Boeing workers has reacted with anger at what the aircraft maker called its \"best and final\" pay offer of a 30% rise over four years.
Brexit checks put plant and flower trade with EU at risk, say UK firms
Exporters of plants and flowers from mainland Europe are turning their backs on supplying Britain as \"painful\" new Brexit border checks are pushing some trading relationships to \"breaking point\", garden centres and nurseries have warned.
Tui expects leap in profits as winter trip bookings rise
Europe's largest travel company expects its annual profits to rise by at least a quarter, helped by people spending more on winter breaks to sunny destinations such as Egypt, Cape Verde, Thailand and Mexico.
Interest rates unlikely to go to near-zero again, Bank governor says
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said he expects interest rates to fall gradually but warned consumers not to expect a return to near-zero levels.
Firms question pre-budget timing of investment event
Business leaders have warned that the government's plans for a major global investment summit are in danger of falling flat, amid growing frustrations over the high costs of involvement and its timing two weeks before the budget.
Assassination attempt on politician 'after firm provided his mobile data'
Gunmen tried to assassinate a Tanzanian opposition politician after a telecoms company secretly passed his mobile phone data to the government, according to evidence heard in a London tribunal.
Rightwing strategy chief in US 'boasted of killing dog'
The man behind Project 2025, the rightwing manifesto that includes calls for a sharp increase in immigrant deportations if Donald Trump is elected president in November, told university colleagues about two decades ago that he had killed a neighbourhood dog with a shovel because it was barking and disturbing his family, according to former colleagues who spoke to the Guardian.
US swing states have gained the most from climate bill
The seven swing states that will decide the US election have received nearly half the clean energy manufacturing dollars unleashed by a landmark 2022 climate bill, analysis shows, amid stuttering Democratic efforts to translate new factory jobs into political support.
Rights groups' shock as von der Leyen 'downgrades' commission equality role
More than 50 rights organisations have expressed \"shock and dismay\" at Ursula von der Leyen's decision to do away with the standalone EU position of equality commissioner, describing it as \"downgrading\" the fight against discrimination.
Moira Stuart targeted by bank scam and saved by vigilant cashier
The veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart has revealed that she nearly fell victim to a sophisticated bank scam.
