Why humans and great apes giggle alike when tickled

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and children laugh in similar rhythms when tickled. Researchers found that kids and apes left evenly spaced intervals between laughing sounds during a tickle attack, though children had a faster laughter rhythm compared with apes. Laughter might have picked up pace during the course of human evolution, the team suggests, which could reveal “something about laughter itself, but also, in a way, about the evolution of human speech”, says primatologist and study co-author Chiara De Gregorio.

Mediterranean Sperm Whales Have Their Own Dialects

Isolated groups of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Mediterranean Sea seem to have developed their own dialects of their species’ primary social vocalization, a pattern of clicks and pauses. Researchers analysed 20 years of audio recordings and found that whales in the Hellenic Trench, near Greece, use a faster version of the pattern than do whales around the Balearic Islands, between Gibraltar and Italy.

‘Light in a bottle’ liquid can harvest and store energy from multiple sources

A new type of liquid can harvest and store energy from light to act as a rechargeable power source. The liquid contains a molecule that absorbs electrons from light, which prompts a restructure into a jelly-like substance. This gel remains stable for months at a time and can release the stored electrons upon contact with oxygen to power chemical reactions. The research is still in very early stages, but such a metal-free energy storage system could one day be useful to power small devices such as smartwatches.

Visiting comet formed in Universe’s infancy

An unusual comet that shot through the Solar System last year — and tempted some to dabble in the idea that it was an alien spaceship — could have formed as long as 12 billion years ago. From the chemical composition of the comet, 3I/ATLAS, researchers estimate that it formed relatively early in the history of the Universe, after an intense period of star formation. Gathering data on more interstellar objects — those that aren’t tied to an orbit and can ‘wander’ the galaxy — could “totally revolutionise what we know about the field of interstellar comets, but also star and planet formation in general”, says planetary scientist Darryl Seligman.

The first ticking ‘nuclear clocks’ are here

Two research teams, one in Europe and one in China, have made the world’s first ‘nuclear’ clocks. These clocks derive their ‘tick’ from the energy that makes protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of thorium-229 shift to a higher energy level. The groups used similar approaches to solve the problem that’s hindered nuclear-clock development in the past: how to keep the clock’s tick speed from drifting over time. Creating a nuclear clock is “a dream come true”, says atomic physicist Thorsten Schumm, a member of the European team. “Now we have a fierce but friendly global competition.”

How the brain builds sentences, neuron by neuron

Researchers have tracked the electrical activity of individual brain cells during conversation in real time, capturing how sentences are built before a single word is spoken. By observing these neurons in a brain region called the frontotemporal cortex, scientists have discovered that individual neurons act as specialized linguistic building blocks. “We used to think language was this diffuse, whole-network phenomenon,” says neurosurgeon and study co-author Ziv Williams. “But it turns out you have specific neurons that only care if a word is a noun, or only care if a phrase is ending.”

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‘Organisers’ in jellies hint at animal origins

Researchers have discovered a new ‘embryonic organiser’ in marine predators called comb jellies (Ctenophora) and successfully transplanted them into sea anemones (Cnidaria). Organiser cells determine an organism’s body axis — a map that plots where various parts of the embryo should develop. After the transplant, the anemones developed a second body axis, complete with extra mouths and pharynxes. The findings support the idea that the emergence of organising activity was a key step in animal evolution, says evolutionary developmental biologist Ulrich Technau.

Mysterious mortuary processing in Iron Age

The remains of an adult buried some 2,000 years ago in what is now Scotland show signs that her brain might have been removed and her bones modified as tools, before her skeleton was carefully reassembled and interred. The finding adds to the mystery of how Iron Age Britons treated their dead: few human remains have survived from that period.

JUNO finds clues to neutrino-mass mystery

Researchers working on the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment in Guangdong, China, have captured crucial details of how mysterious neutrino particles can switch between different types in flight. Neutrinos are so light that they were once thought to have no mass, and the standard model of particle physics doesn’t seem to explain why they do. Physicists use experiments such as JUNO to study how neutrinos ‘oscillate’, or change from one type to another, which is the first step in answering that question.

Stonehenge ‘altar’ carried on glacier

A massive slab at the center of Stonehenge somehow travelled 700 kilometres from its origin in northeast Scotland to its current home in the south of England. A model of Neolithic ice flows suggests a glacier might have carried the six-tonne monolith as far as Doggerland — an area that is now beneath the North Sea. Then, roughly 3,000 years before it came to Stonehenge, people may have saved the rock from rising sea levels. “What is exciting about these findings is that they could imply that the people of Doggerland attached cultural significance to the Altar Stone long before it was incorporated into Stonehenge,” says glaciologist and study co-author Remy Veness.

Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees

Bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) can suss out how to use a tool to complete a set task without explicit training. Bees were shown a ceiling-mounted artificial flower, which contained a tasty sucrose treat, and then separately, a styrofoam ball. Then, the insects were put into an environment with both. The bees worked out that they could roll the ball under the flower for a leg-up to their reward. The insects were never explicitly shown that they could use the ball for this purpose, which suggests they have the cognitive capacity to problem-solve.