Researchers tracked monkey eye movements while viewing clips from Despicable Me to understand visual processing
A study published in JNeurosci examined how primate brains interpret visual scenes by recording eye movements and neural activity in humans and two macaques watching video clips.
The research team, led by Vinay Raghavan of the City College of New York, found that visual processing functions as a continuous stream rather than a collection of separate snapshots. This occurs because the brain integrates high-level meaning across short gaze fixations when encountering new semantic information.
Human and monkey brain data collected during film viewing
One dataset involved dozens of human participants wearing EEG electrodes on their scalps. Subjects watched full-length films including The Big Sick, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Whiplash, Room, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Tomorrow Man, Dom Hemingway, Life After Beth, Woodshock, and The Comedian. Participants were instructed to view the movies as they normally would.
A second dataset included human patients and the two rhesus macaques with electrodes implanted directly into their skulls. These subjects viewed shorter clips, including ten-minute segments of Despicable Me in both English and Hungarian, a 4.3-minute excerpt from the short film The Present, and three five-minute documentaries featuring macaques.
The combined results indicate that many brain regions beyond those dedicated to visual processing contribute to deriving meaning from scenes. The authors note this challenges traditional vision models that treat fixations as independent events and highlights the predictive nature of visual processing.
While the study opens a window into primate cognition, it leaves the question of what the monkeys actually thought of the Minions unanswered.
Archaeology in Peru shows climate events did not drive routine violence
A meta-analysis of 1,633 skeletal remains from the Lambayeque Valley in Peru over a 3,000-year period found no strong link between environmental factors and interpersonal violence. Researchers Thomas Snyder of New York University and Haagen Klaus of George Mason University presented the findings in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
The study distinguished between mass human sacrifices and everyday violence. Archaeological records show at least 107 adult men were sacrificed in six events at Huaca de la Luna between 550 and 600 CE. Around 1450 CE, more than 140 children and 200 juvenile camelids were sacrificed at the Huanchaquito-las Llamas site. These ritual killings coincided with flooding and extreme weather patterns associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation.
Despite these dramatic ceremonial deaths, the analysis of the broader population revealed that non-ritual violence was rare, accounting for only 1.6% of the remains. The authors suggest these ritualized killings reflect lethal relationships between human behaviour, cultural norms, and the environment, but do not indicate a general increase in aggression during climate crises.
Child fingerprints on 15,000-year-old clay figurines reveal early skill transmission
Archaeologists working in the southern Levant have identified fingerprints belonging to children on clay artefacts dating to 15,000 years ago. The discovery, published in PLOS One, offers direct evidence of inter-generational knowledge transfer within the Natufian culture.
The team examined 154 clay figurines found across three sites in Israel. The collection includes depictions of birds, a gazelle, and two human forms. Laurent Davin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led the research.
Fingerprints on the wet clay sometimes show a succession of gestures, suggesting an adult passed a figurine to a pre-pubescent child during the modelling process. The authors interpret these items as portable devices used for teaching traditional beliefs and ethno-ornithological knowledge.
These artefacts represent the earliest evidence of a figurative clay tradition in Southwest Asia and mark an important step in the evolution of human technology.
Harvester ant colonies show increased reproduction and survival with age
A study of western harvester ants published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes a phenomenon known as negative senescence. Over 34 years, researchers Blaine J. Cole and Diane C. Wiernasz of the University of Houston tracked 3,285 colonies of Pogonomyrmex occidentalis.
The data shows that these colonies exhibit increased survival and reproduction rates as they age. The researchers describe the colonies as superorganisms that reverse the typical course of senescence.
This does not mean individual ants are aging in reverse. Worker ants live and die according to a normal life cycle. However, the collective lifespan of the colony adds up to a larger sum, creating a non-senescing form that differs dramatically from most insects.
