Cautiously Ripping Bats' Heads Off

Ozzy Osbourne, the hard-rocking and hard-living Prince of Darkness, is a both a warrior and a worrier, according to an analysis of his genome by Cofactor Genomics and Knome — and Osbourne credits that for keeping him alive. Cofactor's Jon Armstrong tells the St. Louis Business Journal that most people have either one or the other of those genes and that it is rare for someone to have both. "Being a warrior — the crazy bat-eating Prince of Darkness — has made me famous. Being a worrier has kept me alive when some of my dearest friends never made it beyond their mid-20s," writes Osbourne in his column in the UK's Sunday Times. Osbourne, unsurprisingly, has a mutation in the alcohol processing gene ADH4 gene that allows him to break down alcohol efficiently, though he is six times more likely than the average person to be addicted to alcohol. "Given the swimming pools of booze I'd guzzled over the years — not to mention all the [drugs] — there's really no plausible medical reason why I should be alive," he adds, according to the Daily Mail. The Mail adds that Osbourne is distantly related to Czar Nicholas II, King George I, ancient Romans, and Neandertals. In addition, Osbourne is at increased risk for allergies, particularly to dust mites.