Great apes have been laughing for 15 million years
A new study suggests the ability to laugh emerged in our primate ancestors 15 million years ago.
Researchers led by Chiara De Gregorio of the University of Warwick analysed recordings from four orangutans, two gorillas, three bonobos, four chimpanzees, and four human children.
The data focused on playtime, roughhousing, and tickling sessions. The team looked for isochronous patterns, meaning clear sound intervals like “ha ha ha”.
These rhythmic laughs appear to have been present in the last common ancestor of the Hominid family. This group includes all great apes and extinct relatives such as Neanderthals.
“While all major branches of the Hominid family have evolved distinct call repertoires shaped by their species-specific socio-ecologies, one vocalization has been conserved across species and age-sex classes: laughter,” said the researchers.
The analysis indicates that great apes have been making recognisable sounds similar to modern humans for at least 15 million years. Apes more closely related to humans, such as chimpanzees, show more complex and variable laughs compared to other species.
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS formed 12 billion years ago
The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is the oldest object ever detected in the solar system.
Scientists led by Martin Cordiner of the Catholic University of America found the comet accreted as long ago as 12 billion years. This occurred following a period of intense, early star formation.
The object is nearly three times older than the solar system itself. It formed when the observable universe was only a third of its current size.
The age is based on the comet’s ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D/H), measured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope revealed a “surprisingly high” ratio of deuterium enrichment, about 30 times the level of solar system bodies, with the exception of Venus.
“3I/ATLAS thus represents a preserved fragment of an ancient planetary system,” concluded the team.
Scientists propose using “weather jiu-jitsu” to deflect storms
A study proposes using gentle atmospheric “nudges” to redirect potentially catastrophic weather events, such as hurricanes or heat waves.
Researchers led by Qin Huang of Arizona State University call this concept “weather jiu-jitsu”. The vision is to partner with Earth’s own forces to create resilience, rather than reacting to disasters.
The method involves seeding clouds with particles to influence outcomes. It differs from existing methods by opting for light touches in advance of a developing event, as opposed to weakening an event that is already ongoing.
Models suggest this technique could have nudged Hurricane Sandy well away from New York City in 2021. It could also have warmed Texas by about 18 degrees Fahrenheit during its deadly 2021 freeze.
The study estimates it could have reduced the rainfall that caused widespread flooding in California from 2022 to 2023 by about 5 percent.
The team emphasised that the technique is only a proof-of-concept. Far more research is needed to determine if it would be useful in the real world.
Popular music in the West has become more self-focused
Popular music in individualistic societies has shown a significant increase in self-focused language over time.
Marius Golubickis of United Arab Emirates University and his team analysed the lyrics of top 10 hits from 1970 to 2019. They quantified the use of plural pronouns like “we” and “us” compared with first-person singular pronouns like “I” and “me”.
The results revealed that Western societies exhibited a clear increase in self-focused language over time. East Asian societies, by contrast, showed relative stability.
This trend was observed in countries such as the United States and Germany, but no comparable trend was found in more collectivistic societies such as Japan or Hong Kong.
What it means
For musicians and songwriters, the shift suggests a cultural move toward individualism in Western hits. The data highlights a measurable change in how lyrics address the listener, moving away from collective “we” toward singular “I”.
