Meerkats get health benefit from mob membership
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Jan-2026 05:11 ET (1-Jan-2026 10:11 GMT/UTC)
New research has found that social interactions among meerkats may be crucial to their health and survival – thanks to the sharing of beneficial gut bacteria.
Researchers showed that chimpanzees — like humans — can change their minds based on the strength of available evidence, a key feature of rational thought. Working at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, the researchers presented chimps with two boxes, one containing food. Initially, the animals received a clue suggesting which box held the reward. Later, they were given stronger evidence pointing to the other box. The chimps frequently switched their choices in response to the new clues.
The researchers used restricted-access, individual-level data housed in the Wasatch Front Research Data Center. In addition to analyzing which Americans’ live walking-distance to parks across major race and ethnicity categories, the study is the first to assess different access within those groups based on national and Tribal origin. The findings revealed previously unseen national patterns of unequal access to greenspaces.
Using tufts of moss as sponges, improvising play dolls from tree stumps, clipping leaves to signal wanting to be picked up – child chimpanzees are savvy technologists and communicators, a Canadian-led study finds.
MIT researchers examined the role geography has played in the opioid crisis. They find state-level policies inadvertently contributed to the rise of opioid addiction, and that addiction itself is a central driver of the long-term problem.