Decorative sea silk, woven from the spun byssus threads produced by the large bivalve mollusc, the Noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis). Photograph: Nature Picture Library/AlamyDecorative sea silk, woven from the spun byssus threads produced by the large bivalve mollusc, the Noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis). Photograph: Nature Picture Library/AlamyFashionThe ultra-rare material made from fibers – byssus – harvested from giant mollusks was once the height of fashion, for items such as the hat going under the hammer in New York

Weekend love specialRelationships'Every man ticked off on his fingers was someone I'd been compared to at one point or other. Someone kissed better than me. Someone had more stamina, a more seductive voice'Getting stuffed: a tale of love and taxidermy by David Sedaris It was a Friday night in mid-July, around nine o'clock, and Hugh and I were at the dinner table, eating this spaghetti he makes with sausage in it.

WeatherwatchDroughtWhile many methods have been proposed for weather control, few have been quite as peculiar as the cloudbuster invented by Austrian psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich. This device manipulates Orgone Energy, a cosmic life force which also happens to hold clouds together. It resembles the chi of traditional Chinese belief and has yet to be detected by orthodox science. The cloudbuster is a set of hollow tubes pointing to the sky and "

The ObserverSalford This article is more than 8 years oldAs Salford buries its Mr Big, his gang want revenge and the turf wars growThis article is more than 8 years oldPaul Massey’s murder has left a vacuum in the north-west’s criminal underworld, and a question: was the infamous drug baron a police informant? Just beyond the towering stands of Old Trafford lie plots of wasteland that on match days are transformed into lucrative makeshift car parks.

France This article is more than 12 years oldComette family home damaged by egg-sized meteoriteThis article is more than 12 years oldMeteorite believed to be more than 4bn years old smashes through roof of home on outskirts of ParisWhen your name is Comette you may get used to jokes about rockets and space and planets. But French schoolboy Hugo Comette, 11, had the last laugh when of all the places, in all the countries on Earth, a piece of rock from outer space landed on his home.