Warwick primatologists, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute, have shown that young orangutans develop their nighttime nest building skills via observational social learning — by closely watching others and then practicing these complex constructions. Nest-building is an often-overlooked behavior in great apes, but for arboreal species, a well-built nest is essential to survival. Nests…
A newly discovered, raccoon-sized armored monstersaurian from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah, United States, reveals a surprising diversity of large lizards at the pinnacle of the age of dinosaurs. Named for the goblin prince from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” the new species Bolg amondol also illuminates the sometimes-murky path that life traveled…
Quantum networks are often described as the future of the internet — but instead of transmitting classical information in bits, they send quantum information carried by photons. These networks could enable ultra-secure communication, link together distant quantum computers into a single, vastly more powerful machine, and create precision sensing systems that can measure time or…
Researchers at Rice University and collaborating institutions have discovered direct evidence of active flat electronic bands in a kagome superconductor. This breakthrough could pave the way for new methods to design quantum materials — including superconductors, topological insulators and spin-based electronics — that could power future electronics and computing technologies. The study, published in Nature…
A plucked guitar string can vibrate for seconds before falling silent. A playground swing, emptied of its passenger, will gradually come to rest. These are what physicists call “damped harmonic oscillators” and are well understood in terms of Newton’s laws of motion. But in the tiny world of atoms, things are strange — and operate…
What lies beneath Fickle Hill in northern California? Maybe the answer to an earthquake mystery that has puzzled seismologists for decades. The origin of the 1954 magnitude 6.5 earthquake that rattled residents around Humboldt Bay has been unclear, but a new study now suggests a surprising source: the Cascadia subduction interface. In the Bulletin of…
Those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet, reduced their caloric intakes, engaged in moderate exercise, and received professional weight loss support had a 31% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet alone. The findings come from PREDIMED-Plus, the largest nutrition and lifestyle clinical trial ever conducted…
Study shows for the first time that lithium plays an essential role in normal brain function and can confer resistance to brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists discovered that lithium is depleted in the brain by binding to toxic amyloid plaques — revealing a new way Alzheimer’s may begin. A new class of lithium-based compounds…
