Scientists working to save endangered species are wary of interbreeding genetically distinct creatures, lest they lead to hopelessly sterile results – like when a horse and a donkey produce a mule. And yet, the accidental crossbreeding of two different lineages of the Asiatic wild ass (a relative of the domesticated donkey) didn’t doom the resulting hybrids to extinction. Instead, it helped revive a thriving population of the species in the Negev Desert, nearly a century after the original one died out.

New research showing just how diverse this hybrid wild ass’s DNA is highlights what a success the accidental experiment was – not least because other attempts to reintroduce wild asses with purebred members of a single subspecies have all failed. So rather than trying to preserve the genetic purity of an endangered species, keeping an open mind to interbreeding may be a better strategy.

It’s now two decades since the human genome was sequenced by scientists – “the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by mankind” according to President Bill Clinton at the time. But on its 20th anniversary, we hear from two geneticists who argue the intervening years have yielded surprisingly little to celebrate.

And after Uber drivers spent the weekend celebrating a Supreme Court ruling that classed them as workers with employment rights not independent contractors, we learn what that could mean for thousands of other people employed in the UK’s gig economy.

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