Reviews

Coughs and Sneezes or Attention Seekers?

hAve you ever heArd A ‘Snough’?

Gorillas at Atlanta Zoo have been seen to open their mouths wide and let out a loud theatrical noise, somewhere between a sneeze and a cough. In a recent study, anthropologist Roberta Salmi recorded the response of eight gorillas in three different settings to observe this phenomenon. The first setting, a bucket of grapes outside the enclosure; the second, a keeper in place of the grapes; and the third, both the keeper and the grapes. The gorillas ‘snoughed’ most when both the keeper and grapes were present. “Coughing and sneezing are signs of a cold, which are signals that caregivers pay specific attention to”, says Salmi, who leads the primate behavioural ecology lab at the University of Georgia. In this instance, the gorillas seem to have noticed that a ‘snough’ in particular grabs the attention of the keeper.

‘Snoughing’ has never been observed in the wild, and this is the first time that ‘complex vocal learning’, where novel sounds are learnt through imitation, has been observed in captive gorillas. Significantly, if a greater understanding of primate communication can be gained, it might help to explain how human language emerged in the first place. LB

Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants

Anthropgenic noiSe pollution in urban environments has been shown to mask bird signals and create selection pressures driving the evolution of bird songs. Over the last couple of decades, multiple studies have shown that urbanisation negatively impacts mental health with symptoms such as increased depression, paranoia and schizophrenia. Similarly, many studies have shown the mental and physical health benefits correlated with access to nature and rural environments. However, little focus had been made on the effects of sound.

A recent study by Stobbe et. al looked at how birdsong can affect those in urban environments filled with noise pollution. They found that birdsong can improve our mental health and that these effects are stronger in areas with more severe noise pollution. In this study, subjects listened to recordings of high and low traffic soundscapes with different vehicle diversity as well as high and low birdsong soundscapes with varying diversity. Participants’ psychosis liability, cognition, mood and paranoid symptoms were measured with several standardised scale indices before and after listening to each soundscape. Results showed that although cognition did not appear to be affected by the stimuli, noise pollution had a negative effect and birdsong had an exclusively positive effect on other studied aspects. LC

Original article: Stobbe, E., Sundermann, J., Ascone, L. et al. Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants. Sci Rep 12, 16414 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20841

Modifying the genetics of humanity? What we do not know is what matters

Would you like your baby to be genetically modified? With the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gene-editing technologies well heard nowadays, the prospect of being able to select the genetic makeup of our future generations is looming. If you ever wonder about what choice you might make, a new book - “The End of Genetics: Designing Humanity’s DNA”, written by the renowned geneticist David Goldstein, may offer some clues.

When faced with decisions concerning genetic modification in humans, mixed feelings may arise depending on the context: should we eliminate known genetic variations that cause fatal or debilitating diseases? Many parents may be inclined to say yes. However, thoughts and emotions can get complicated when it comes to non-life-threatening characteristics, such as height and intelligence, and this raises many more questions than answers. Would we create a healthier humanity or relapse back into the horrors of eugenics prevalent merely a few decades ago? Would there still be a sense of biological belonging to a family if parents decide not to have their children inherit their genetic quirks? After all, do we really know about the potential consequences of applying reproductive genome editing en masse?

By taking readers through the history of human genetics – from the realisation of heredity as a concept, all the way up to the latest advancements in reproductive gene editing technology – Goldstein lays out what we do and do not yet know about the ways in which genetic variations in the population may affect our lives and well-being. Goldstein stresses that for better or worse, as with any technological progress in human history, what can be done will be done; so now is the time for scientists to inform the public more about the uncertainty and less about the hype around this potential avenue of reproductive genome design. RJ