Cognitive and behavioral biologists from University of Vienna conducted personality assessments and learning tests with common marmosets and found that their cognitive abilities are influenced by family group membership and by their personalities, with bolder marmosets learning faster than shy ones. If you’re as smart as the tiny monkeys, you’ll agree that Bolder Marmosets would make a great band name.
The British startup Clerkenwell Health opened a facility in central London, making it Europe’s first commercial facility for psychedelic drug trials, focusing on the use of psilocybin to help people deal with the anxiety associated with a diagnosis of terminal illness, and to support them through their end-of-life care. Seems fitting that the first one is near the birthplace of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”
A new University of Harvard study on trilobite fossils found evidence of their soft tissue reproductive organs and determined the arthropods used the clasper-like legs around their mid-bodies to grab onto the clasper hands of an opposite-sex trilobite during mating. And now Harvard students know why some professors were giggling.
After Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin threatened SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for supplying Ukraine with Starlnk equipment by tweeting, “Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult — no matter how much you'll play the fool", Musk issued a panicky tweet reading, “If I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowin ya." Time to send Rogozin a peace offering of some Russian bear-shaped gummies, Elon?
Residents of Zhoushan, a city in East China's Zhejiang Province, were terrified when their night sky suddenly turned a bright red, but the Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau assured them it was not solar activity like a similar but longer phenomenon in 1770 but merely the refraction and scattering of light by low-level clouds from fishing boats. Or is it a ploy to sell cheap carp as redfish?
The James Webb Space Telescope isn’t fully operational yet but astronomer Andras Gaspar noticed that a test photo of a neighboring galaxy was also taken by the WISE and Spitzer telescopes and posted a comparison showing how much clearer Webb’s image is over its predecessors. Can NASA flip it around and get some shots of Bigfoot and UFOs?
In a gruesome press release, the National Parks Service reveals that climate change has dropped the level of Lake Mead so low, it had to issue a warning to be on the lookout for the remains of murder victims dumped in the lake. Coming soon to your favorite streaming channel: The Sopranos of Nevada.
NASA reports problems with the plucky Ingenuity helicopter on Mars – the little drone temporarily lost contact with NASA when dust built up on its solar arrays, and a similar dust buildup during the 10-week Martian winter could prevent it from heating back up from the negative 112 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures. Sounds like the first Mars mission will need astronauts trained as home plate umpires.
Bats are already amazing but a new study ups their score with the discovery of that greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) buzz like hornets to scare away predatory owls who apparently don’t want to be stung. We’re in big trouble if they figure out how to mimic the sound of police sirens.
Before you smash that bathroom spider, consider the amazing tropical spider Trechalea extensa which researchers just discovered can use a "film" of air to hide underwater from predators for as long as 30 minutes, with their fuzzy body hairs keeping them warm and preventing them from breathing in any water. On second thought, better check the water in the commode before sitting down.
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