Charles Darwin's 'Gorgonia' : a palaeontological mystery from the Falkland Islands resolved

During the celebrated voyage of HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin visited the Falkland Islands twice, in March 1833 and March 1834. He thought the islands bleak and inhospitable, but was much excited during his first visit to discover fossils at Port Louis. These he recognised as brachiopods (a type of shellfish) and crinoids (often described descriptively as ‘sea-lilies’ but actually animals related to sea urchins); an example of the kind of fossils that he saw is shown in Figure 1

A robust crinoid from the Llandovery (Lower Silurian) of Norbury, Shropshire: systematics, palaeoecology and taphonomy

Crinoids remain poorly known from the Llandovery of the British Isles despite disarticulated columnals being locally common. Cyclocyclicus (col.) geoffnewalli sp. nov. is based on common columnals and rarer pluricolumnals from Norbury quarry, south Shropshire (upper Llandovery, Telychian, Pentamerus Beds). It most probably represents a camerate or perhaps a cladid. The radial symplectial articulation of this species extends to the edge of the jugulum, claustra are sloping, there is no areola and the heteromorphic column, N212, has nodals with convex latera. Radice (=holdfast) ossicles are gracile, of similar morphology to columnals, but small and low. Cyclocyclicus (col.) geoffnewalli is a common component of the Pentamerus community at Norbury, where it dominated the sessile benthos with Pentamerus. Constrictions of the axial canal suggest that it contained only a limited amount of soft tissues whatever the diameter. Similar columnals are known from elsewhere in the Telychian of the Welsh Borderland, suggesting that C. (col.) geoffnewalli may have been distributed broadly in the shelly benthos of this region

The future of cancer care in the UK—time for a radical and sustainable National Cancer Plan

Cancer affects one in two people in the UK and the incidence is set to increase. The UK National Health Service is facing major workforce deficits and cancer services have struggled to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, with waiting times for cancer care becoming the worst on record. There are severe and widening disparities across the country and survival rates remain unacceptably poor for many cancers. This is at a time when cancer care has become increasingly complex, specialised, and expensive. The current crisis has deep historic roots, and to be reversed, the scale of the challenge must be acknowledged and a fundamental reset is required. The loss of a dedicated National Cancer Control Plan in England and Wales, poor operationalisation of plans elsewhere in the UK, and the closure of the National Cancer Research Institute have all added to a sense of strategic misdirection. The UK finds itself at a crossroads, where the political decisions of governments, the cancer community, and research funders will determine whether we can, together, achieve equitable, affordable, and high-quality cancer care for patients that is commensurate with our wealth, and position our outcomes among the best in the world. In this Policy Review, we describe the challenges and opportunities that are needed to develop radical, yet sustainable plans, which are comprehensive, evidence-based, integrated, patient-outcome focused, and deliver value for money.</p