Barbra Streisand has offered an explanation after asking Melissa McCarthy if the Bridesmaids star had taken the weight loss drug Ozempic.

On Monday, McCarthy posted a picture of herself and director Adam Shankman as they attended a charity gala in honour of renowned choreographer Matthew Bourne.

Fans and famous faces flocked to the comments section – including Streisand, whose now-deleted post received attention for the wrong reasons.

The Funny Girl star wrote: “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?”

The comment was soon spotted by McCarthy’s followers, one of whom wrote on Twitter: “Omg somebody please teach Barbra Streisand how to send a DM.”

Streisand’s post was later deleted and she’s now explained why she wrote it in a post on X.

The 82-year-old wrote: “OMG – I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday!

“Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album. She looked fantastic!

“I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading.”

McCarthy, 53, has not responded to either of Streisand’s posts.

Ozempic – a treatment originally designed for people with diabetes – works by suppressing the appetite and lengthens the amount of time food stays in the stomach, leading to weight loss – at least for as long as you carry on taking it.

It has been banned as a treatment for obesity in the UK due to high demand for the drug causing a global shortage.

Numerous Hollywood stars are rumoured to have used Ozempic to lose weight – but just a handful of celebrities have admitted it publicly.

Read more:
Ozempic to Wegovy – what are the weight loss injections?
Ozempic takes over the internet despite health warnings

Stephen Fry was prescribed the drug in the US “years ago” and said earlier this year that side effects included vomiting up to five times a day.

Oprah Winfrey has said she has also taken weight loss drugs, though she’s declined to specify which one.

Certain fox species plunge-dive into snow to catch prey, a hunting mechanism called mousing. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) can dive into snow at speeds ranging between 2 and 4 m/s. In new research, scientists at Cornell University found that the elongated snout with higher curvature generates less impact force when it penetrates the snow, reducing the possibility of injury during impact. This skull shape also allows foxes to reach deeper into the snow, providing an advantage for catching small rodents located at greater depths. As a result, the authors predict that red and arctic foxes living in snow-covered areas will have a higher hunting success rate when mousing in snow.

Yuk et al. examined the hunting technique employed by red and arctic foxes, known as mousing, wherein they dive head-first into snow to capture prey. Image credit: Yellowstone National Park.

Red and arctic foxes dive into snow to catch prey, a behavior known as mousing.

These foxes can identify the location of animals under several feet of snow through their exceptional sensitivity to rustling noises, which have the peak in 2 to 10 kHz frequencies.

When foxes detect prey location and swiftly leap into snow at speeds of 2 to 4 m/s, they catch their prey completely by surprise.

Previous studies explored this mousing behavior in terms of the diving mechanism and success rate.

Red foxes tend to jump in a north-easterly direction, and the success rate of hunts was much higher when the foxes jumped in this direction, in comparison to all other directions, suggesting that foxes use the Earth’s magnetic field to hunt.

However, the mechanical aspects of snow diving, which are also critical to hunting success, are not well understood.

“The fox’s sharp snout doesn’t significantly compress the snow, it penetrates it without much resistance,” said Professor Sunghwan Jung, a researcher in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University.

In the study, Professor Jung and colleagues scanned skulls of red and arctic foxes as well as of lynx and puma skulls.

They 3D-printed the skulls and attached each to a sensor that measured impact force.

The skulls were then dropped into both snow and water, and the researchers entered data into computer models to compare impacts of both.

They found that the foxes’ sharp snouts penetrated the snow with little resistance, minimizing potential tissue damage during a headfirst dive.

“Without much compression, in spite of the high-speed impact, the snow behaves like water,” Professor Jung said.

“But the flat felid snouts compressed the snow upon impact, creating a large and potentially damaging resistance.”

When mousing in snow, the fox’s long snout also allows it to reach its prey earlier, as mice are very sensitive to movements in their environment and can quickly escape.

Other behavioral studies have shown that prior to pouncing, foxes shake their heads to listen to the rustling sounds of mice or other animals beneath the snow’s surface, thereby gauging the depth of the sound source.

“This is a very dangerous process, but we haven’t had reports of foxes getting injured,” Professor Jung said.

The research is described in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Jisoo Yuk et al. 2024. Effect of skull morphology on fox snow diving. PNAS 121 (19): e2321179121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2321179121

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Reporter

Cabinet has announced plans to improve the media landscape through the adoption of principles to amend the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act, the Media Practitioners Bill and the Broadcasting Amendment Act.

Notably, under the planned amendments, and in terms of the Broadcasting Amendment Act, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation revenue base will be broadened since it will be mandatory for all motorists to have a current radio licence before either disposing of their vehicles or on purchasing motor vehicle cover or policy.

This was announced by Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere during the post-Cabinet briefing yesterday.

He said the additional amendments to the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act, which had been a result of consultative meetings with various media industry players, would ensure that all identified gaps were covered.

“The amendments will standardise training in journalism and mass communication thereby entrenching professionalism. Furthermore, the definition of a media practitioner will be expanded, and a Media Council of Zimbabwe established for purposes of regulating the media.

“The additional Principles also cover the ownership of Mass Media Services in the country, tenure of office for Commissioners, and the reporting structure,” said Dr Muswere.

He added that foreign ownership of mass media services in the country would be limited to promote local content, local business, and employment.

The Act will also allow Zimbabwe Media Commissioners to serve for a one five-year-term, which is renewable once, and the Commission shall report to the Minister as provided for in the Constitution.

To address areas around the welfare of journalists and the media profession, Cabinet approved Principles of the Media Practitioners’ Bill.

The Bill is expected to professionalise and define media practitioners, and will allow the independence and co-regulation of media practitioners. It will also allow the growth and development of the media industry.

“The nation is advised that the Media Practitioners’ Bill seeks to create a legal framework that outlines parameters for the regulation of the media as provided for in section 249(3) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

“This entails the creation of a Zimbabwe Media Practitioners Council, which will be responsible for the regulation and enforcement of professionalism among all media practitioners. The Media Council will use delegated power from the Zimbabwe Media Commission to discipline its members,” said Minister Muswere.

He said the Media Practitioners Council would also deal with conduct and ethics and would be elected from institutions and organisations that include the Editors’ Forum, public and private media institutions as well as academic institutions.

The approval of the Principles for Additional Amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06], is expected to address shortcomings that were identified in the first set of principles which were approved by Cabinet in 2019.

The additional amendments will, among other provisions, provide for ensuring gender balance in the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe Board, the introduction of annual applications for broadcasting frequency spectrum licences, broadening and introducing new definitions under Section 38A and the prohibition of the sale of motor vehicle registration licence or motor vehicle insurance cover or policy to a person without a current radio licence or an exemption from ZBC under Section 38B.

“In terms of the amended Act, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation revenue base will be broadened since it will be mandatory for all motorists to have a current radio licence before either disposing of their vehicles or on purchasing motor vehicle cover or policy,” said Minister Muswere.

Zimbabwe Union of Journalists Secretary General Mr Perfect Hlongwani applauded the Government for engagement with the media industry players in coming up with a Bill that deals with the welfare of journalists.

“Indeed, there have been engagements and we continue to engage with the Government. We are happy that you are allowing us to engage on issues that affect us. We think that the best thing that we can do is to professionalise the sector,” he said.