In a 1981 magazine essay, the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould let readers in one of his field's counter-intuitive truths. Aquatic animals, including lungfish and coelacanths, are more closely related to tetrapods ' four-limbed vertebrates ' than to salmon, sticklebacks and many other things people call 'fish' ' or, as Gould quipped, 'there is surely no such thing as a fish'. Sharks could be in a similar situation. A genomic study of dozens of shark species and their close relatives suggests that the ocean's top predators might also not be a natural biological group, contrary to what studies using more-limited genetic data have suggested. The analysis, posted last month to the bioRxiv preprint server, finds that, when researchers look at some 'ultra-conserved' parts of the genome, a peculiar family of sharks called Hexanchiformes might be part of an evolutionary lineage that is distinct from the group that includes all other sharks, as well as skates and rays1. The results, which haven't been peer reviewed, suggest that most animals that people call sharks are more closely related to rays and skates than to hexanchiform shark species ' just as Gould pointed was the case for some species called fishes. Biologists call such groups paraphyletic....

The transaction preserves domestic ownership of the brand, which has been a symbol of Italian luxury since 1953. FSI will partner with the Fassin and Bachmueller families, who have acquired around 25% through their holding company Katjes Quiet Luxury. Missoni has emerged from the pandemic with strengthened financial performance. Turnover has doubled to approximately '130m, or around $143m, while EBITDA is expected to reach roughly '20m, equivalent to about $22m, this year. The company has also delivered commercial momentum. The Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2026 collections, led by creative director Alberto Caliri, recorded sales growth of 30%, outperforming several larger luxury peers. The new ownership structure maintains continuity in governance. Livio Proli, formerly of Giorgio Armani, remains CEO, while FSI co-founder Barnaba Ravanne continues as Chairman. The existing management team stays in place. For FSI, the move reinforces its strategy of backing high-quality Italian consumer and luxury assets with international growth potential. Rather than exiting, the firm has opted to deepen its commitment, positioning Missoni for a new phase of expansion with additional capital and strategic support....

The appointment comes as family offices continue to proliferate globally. At least one fifth of the world's 500 richest individuals now operate personal investment firms overseeing more than $5tn in combined wealth, according to Bloomberg data. Founded in 2019 by Matt McGrath, Emissary advises family offices, including on complex legacy assets. The firm estimates that roughly 5% of a typical family office portfolio is tied up in such holdings. Subscribe to our Newsletter to increase your edge. Don't worry about the news anymore, through our newsletter you'll receive weekly access to what is happening. Join 120,000 other PE professionals today....

By sifting through an anonymized genealogy database, researchers have discovered a Utah family that has been having twice as many boys as girls for seven generations. It is the first clear evidence that humans might have 'selfish genes' that distort the sex ratio of offspring from roughly 50:50, the researchers argue in a preprint posted on bioRxiv earlier this month1. The findings have not been peer-reviewed. Such sex 'distorters' have been discovered ' and studied in great depth ' in laboratory animals such as mice and flies, in which their effects can be detected through selective breeding. 'If you look, more often than not, you find them,' says Nitin Phadnis, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who co-led the study. Theoretical predictions suggest that sex distorters probably do exist in people as well, and that they could produce excesses of biological boys or girls at birth. But humans' long generation times and low birth rates as well as ethical issues have made such genes ' and other 'selfish' genetic elements , meaning that they bias their own transmission to future generations whether or not they improve an individual's biological fitness ' difficult to spot....