BY JAYNE ATHERTON IT MAY not rank among most people's favourite things but death has made it into a list of nature's greatest hits. Scientists have chosen the definitive top ten of nature's creations ranging from the eye to the brain, for the New Scientist magazine. Top of the list is multicellularity: a trick of DNA which allows different cells to specialise in specific tasks. Without it, complex creatures -including people -could not exist. The eye, in second place, first appeared 543million years ago, when trilobites first gazed upon the world. The brain, which is credited with lifting us 'above the level of vegetation' comes next, with photosynthesis, the process which allows organisms to turn sunlight into fuel, in fourth place. Language comes next, followed by sex, which, in scientific terms, is a waste of time and energy. Thankfully, nature is not such a kill-joy - and anyway, sexual reproduction allows for genetic variation and evolution. Also in the list are symbiosis, which allows two species to live off one another, parasites, ranging from viruses to mosquitoes, and superorganisms, such as the Portuguese man-of-war. Finally there's the Grim Reaper himself.Death allows cells to self-destruct so the body can develop and regenerate itself.And one theory suggests an in-built ageing programme sets an upper limit on our lifespans, ensuring we do not outstay our welcome. [Metro Apr11,2005] By Suzy Austin It may look like it has been Tangoed,but this turtle's unusual colour is down to a strange twist of nature. The soft-shelled turtle - which would be brownish green or tan under normal circumstances - was found in Yangzhou,China. Scientists believe the female turtle is bright orange thanks to a gene deformity.The turtle is certainly not the first animal to sport unusual colour through mutation. Gene abnormalities occasionally also create albinos,which lack pigment and have white skin and hair. Other colour mutations include a striking scarlet ibis,more commonly black and white. And one family believed they had stumbled upon an exotic species when they found a strangely-coloured frog in their garden pond in a South Yorkshire village. It was only when they took it to an expert that they found it was a common garden frog with a colourful gene thrown in. [Metro Apr20,2005]. Tale Gator: The albino alligator pictured on Wednesday is not an albino. The trait is, in fact,leucistic.If it had been an albino,the pattern in its skin would have been present, as well as the characteristic pink eyes.Leucistic animals are not albino and should not be confused with such.The peacock that appears in the article is also leucistic. Joe Killick,Huddersfield. [Metro Apr21,2005] 'Hobbits' ruled paradise isle BY SARAH HILLS THEY were barely 1m tall, round-faced and hollow-eyed - creatures eerily rerniniscent of Tolkien's hobbits from The Lord of The Rings. But these were not intelligent, gentle, pipe-smoking denizens of Middle Earth. They were tiny humans, who, despite having brains a quarter the size of modern man, used stone tools and hunted. Scientists who uncovered their remains, hailed it one of the most spectacular fossil finds in decades. Fragments from the primitive individuals, who lived until 12,000 years ago, were found on the Indonesian island of Flores. They inhabited a kind of tropical lost world, populated by giant lizards and miniature elephants. Radiocarbon dating revealed some specimens to be 95,000 years old. One l8,000 year-old skeleton, of an adult female, was found near stone tools and charred animal bones, suggesting she cooked. Experts believe Flores Man descended from the full-sized forebears of modern hurnans. Australian experts who found the creatures told the journal Nature they shrank over the years, in part, because they did not need to remain tall to tackle natural predators. Prof Bert Roberts, of Wollongong University, said: 'We now have the remains of at least seven hobbit-sized individuals at the cave site, so the skeleton cannot be some kind of freak.' [Metro Oct28,2005] The Riddle of The Human Hobbits: An Equinox Special Delving into the science behind last year's tabloid frenzy, The Riddle of The Human Hobbits began, in true 'ooooh- Secrecy- Lost world! Genetic conspiracy" style with boffins stalking purposefully down shadowy, X Files-lit corridors to click open a Spy-Catcher metal briefcase. Despite my immense disappointment that the metal briefcase did not reveal a tiny lost tribe of woolly-toed folk, chanting 'riddle-me-ree' and blowing smoke rings, but a small, mouldy-looking skull from Indonesia, this mind-blowing, 'wow - world of wonder!' doc was still hugely absorbing and great fun. Much of the fun was due to Prof Bert Roberts, one of the original Aussie archaeologists who unearthed Flo, the hobbit lady whose diminutive metre-high stature and titchy brain proved evolution-busting evidence of an entire new species. A kind of cheery Wollongong University version of Michael Palin, Bert was happy to give us facts in a way we understood, clarifying the importance of the find while proving his professionalism by the ability to say 'homo erectus' repeatedly without giggling like a schoolboy. [Metro May3,2005] Until very recently, evolutionary thought was couched in terms of a linear, progressive trajectory rising from lower life forms and culminating in man. I have argued elsewhere that this view is not, regrettably, as extinct as it should be. In palaeoanthropology, this idea is seen in the view that only one species of hominid has existed at any one time, each one succeeding the next in a scheme of orderly replacement. This idea began to crumble in the 1970s, since when discoveries of ancient relatives of humans have revealed a marked diversity of form. Human evolution is like a bush, not a ladder. But these discoveries concerned the more remote reaches of human ancestry. Despite the fact that some of our relatives, such as Neanderthal man and Homo erectus, are thought to have become extinct in relatively recent times, our complacency that this view holds for recent history has not been shaken. Until now. If it turns out that the diversity of human beings was always high, remained high until very recently and might not be entirely extinguished, we are entitled to question the security of some of our deepest beliefs. Will the real image of God please stand up?