The information: Do animals have names? It appears so, after new analysis seems to have found that small monkeys known as marmosets “vocally label” their monkey buddies with particular sounds.
How they did it: The staff used audio recorders and pattern-recognition software program to investigate the animals’ high-pitched chirps and twitters. To show they’d cracked the monkey code—and realized the key names—the staff performed recordings on the marmosets by a speaker and located they responded extra usually when their label, or identify, was within the recording.
Why it issues: Till now, solely people, dolphins, elephants, and doubtless parrots had been recognized to make use of particular sounds to name out to different people. This type of analysis may present clues to the origins of human language, arguably probably the most highly effective innovation in our species’ evolution. Learn the total story.
—Antonio Regalado
A brand new sensible masks analyzes your breath to watch your well being
Your breath may give away rather a lot about you. Every exhalation accommodates all kinds of compounds, together with doable biomarkers for illness or lung circumstances, that might give docs a invaluable perception into your well being.
Now a brand new sensible masks may assist docs verify your breath for these indicators repeatedly and in a noninvasive means. A affected person may put on the masks at residence, measure their very own ranges, after which go to the physician if a flare-up is probably going. Learn the total story.
—Scott J Mulligan