Nature
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Mother–infant bonds in wild chimpanzees resemble those of humans
The bonds of affection between human mothers and their children are crucial for infant well-being. This suggests that such bonds might have a long evolutionary history. Writing in Nature Human Behaviour, Rolland et al. report evidence of human-like mother–infant bonding in wild Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus, pictured). The observations improve researchers’ understanding of these ‘attachment’ behaviours in our closest…
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OpenAI’s chief scientist on what to expect
Jakub Pachocki has been OpenAI’s chief scientist since 2024.Credit: OpenAI OpenAI is best known for ChatGPT — the free-to-use, large language model-based chatbot that became a household name after its debut in 2022. The firm, in San Francisco, California, has since released a string of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including ‘reasoning’ models that use step-by-step ‘thought’ processes to specialize…
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Teens with anxiety and depression spend more time on social media
The survey asked more than 3,000 UK teens about their experiences using social media.Credit: Ute Grabowsky/Photothek/Getty Teenagers with mental–health conditions spend more time on social media than their peers — on average, 50 more minutes on a typical day. They are also more likely to be dissatisfied with aspects of the experience, such as their number of online friends, a…
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A forensic investigator of glacier change
“In this picture, I’m visiting Steindalsbreen, a glacier in the Lyngen Alps, just east of Tromsø in Norway, where I’m based. The glacier has retreated drastically: it’s slumped in the middle, is thinning around its margins and its tongue has melted into the growing glacial lake behind me. Glaciers are powerful agents of erosion. As they flow, they grind the…
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How India rewrote the rules of space travel when it launched its first satellite
The satellite, Aryabhata, provided a huge boost to India’s space programme.Credit: NASA/Alamy In the early hours of 19 April 1975, the mood at the Soviet military launch site of Kapustin Yar — a space test facility north of the Caspian Sea — was heavy with anticipation. Scientists and engineers moved with brisk deliberation, the pre-launch silence was punctuated only by…
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the fascinating insights meteorites can bring us
The Meteorite Hunters: On the Trail of Extraterrestrial Treasures and the Secrets Inside Them Joshua Howgego Oneworld (2025) The Meteorites: Encounters with Outer Space and Deep Time Helen Gordon Profile (2025) From vacuuming cathedral rooftops to traversing the frozen wastes of Antarctica, people go to great lengths to find the landfall of shooting stars. That is the take-home message of…
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5 charts reveal the power of vaccines
Vaccines have made several deadly diseases a thing of the past.Credit: Christina House/Los Angeles Times/Getty A second unvaccinated child in Texas has died from measles, amplifying fears that the outbreak there could be wider than reported. The death, announced on 6 April, also harkens back to a pre-vaccine past that many Americans have forgotten, when hundreds of children died each…
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Brain implant translates thoughts to speech in an instant
This scan of the brain shows activity in the speech cortex — a part of the frontal lobe involved in speech production.Credit: Montreal Neurological Institute/Science Photo Library A brain-reading implant that translates neural signals into audible speech has allowed a woman with paralysis to hear what she intends to say nearly instantly. Researchers enhanced the device — known as a…
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How to know whether a conference is right for you
Illustration: Sébastien Thibault After coming across a UK conference that sounded interesting, Carme Arnan Ros, a laboratory manager and research technician at the -Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, was concerned. The event was organized by a private UK company whose name was similar to that of a prestigious university, although they were not related. She couldn’t be sure…
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The early origins of bone-tool manufacturing traditions by hominins 1.5 million years ago
Nature, Published online: 17 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00545-x Excavations at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, reveal evidence of the systematic use of animal bones as a raw material for prehistoric tools. Source link
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