WILD CHIMPANZEES SHOW OBJECTS SIMPLY TO SHARE ATTENTION

Researchers from the British universities of York and Warwick have captured video evidence of a wild chimpanzee showing an object to its mother simply for sharing’s sake—social behaviour previously thought to be unique to humans. They examined more than 80 similar leaf-grooming events in order to rule out alternative explanations for the behaviour, including food sharing and initiating grooming or playing. Researchers suggest that the discovery could have implications concerning our understanding of the evolution of human social cognition and what makes human minds unique. Next, they will conduct further research on communities of chimpanzees to see if they can observe other chimps engaging in this showing and sharing behaviour.

Stickers that can see inside the body

MIT engineers have unveiled new stamp-sized ultrasound adhesives that produce clear images of a patient’s heart, lungs, and other internal organs. With the potential to eliminate the cumbersome wands and probes currently in use by trained technicians, the new technology might make getting an ultrasound as simple as buying a band-aid at your local pharmacy. If the devices can be made to operate wirelessly—a goal the team is currently working toward—the ultrasound stickers could be made into wearable imaging products that patients could take home from a doctor’s office. The researchers applied the stickers to volunteers and showed that the devices produced live, high-resolution images of major blood vessels and deeper organs such as the heart, lungs, and stomach, for 48 hours, even while volunteers were active.

Gut Bacteria Are Essential For Development Of Social Behavior In Fish

University of Oregon scientists have shown that microorganisms are essential for normal social behaviours in zebrafish because they influence brain development. The transparent skin of zebrafish larvae offered the scientists a rare window into their neural development. It enabled them to investigate the larvae, reared with or without the presence of their normal microbiota, for the first seven days of development. According to the study published in the open access journal PLOS Biology, they found that larvae without their microbiota had fewer immune cells in their forebrains and denser, more complex neural branching patterns, which affected their neural and social development.