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The Conversation
playful young chimp with mother in trees

Playing with the kids is important work for chimpanzee mothers

Zarin Machanda, Tufts University and Kris Sabbi, Harvard University

A camera bag lies on beach sand alongside several circles created by plant fronds, which are also pictured

Fossilised circles in the sand on South Africa’s coast may be artwork by our early ancestors

Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University and Jan Carlo De Vynck, University of the Witwatersrand

Cassava: The perilous past and promising future of a toxic but nourishing crop

Stephen Wooding, University of California, Merced

man poses amid tall green plants
Future pandemics will have the same human causes as ancient outbreaks − lessons from anthropology can help prevent them

Ron Barrett, Macalester College

etching of people in ancient Roman garb harvesting grain and using oxen and horses
The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

Or Graur, University of Portsmouth

Ancient depiction of Nut
We spent 2 years in deep underground caves to bring this extraordinary fossil to light

Tim Ziegler, Museums Victoria Research Institute

Close-up of bones and a skull sandwiched between brown rocks.

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Tech talk

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Debbie Passey, The University of Melbourne

A grey stone figure with chiseled features and a turban set against a blue sky.
Understanding AI outputs: study shows pro-western cultural bias in the way AI decisions are explained

Mary Carman, University of the Witwatersrand and Uwe Peters, Utrecht University

A vibrant vector illustration depicting Ai vs natural intelligence, both shaped like human heads but with different processes occurring in their heads.
Technology makes it easy for lawyers to work across borders: regulations should too

Temitope Lawal, Bond University

Graphic illustration of scales representing justice within concentric lines on a dark blue background
Even hands-free, phones and their apps cause dangerously distracted driving

Shannon Roberts, UMass Amherst

a hand points to a virtual button on a display screen on a car dashboard.
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Creature features

Hadeda ibises’ ‘sixth sense’ works best in wet soil: new research is a wake-up call for survival of wading birds with this superpower

Carla Jacquelyn du Toit, University of Cambridge

Hadeda ibis carrying captured earthworm in beak
Our laser technique can tell apart elephant and mammoth ivory – here’s how it may disrupt the ivory trade

Rebecca Shepherd, University of Bristol

Our laser technique can tell apart elephant and mammoth ivory – here’s how it may disrupt the ivory trade
Seychelles : une étude récente confirme la présence de baleines bleues depuis des décennies

Jeremy Kiszka, Florida International University

Photo d'une baleine solitaire
Africa is full of bats, but their fossils are scarce – why these rare records matter

Mariëtte Pretorius, University of the Witwatersrand

A bat in flight against a dark sky
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Our ancient world

Ancient depiction of Nut

The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

Or Graur, University of Portsmouth

Africa is full of bats, but their fossils are scarce – why these rare records matter

Mariëtte Pretorius, University of the Witwatersrand

A bat in flight against a dark sky
How a teenager helped identify a new species of giant marine reptile

Dean Lomax, University of Manchester

Artist's impression of giant marine reptile on the beach with two smaller land based reptiles
Fossil beetles found in a Botswana diamond mine help us to reconstruct the distant past

Sandiso Mnguni, University of the Witwatersrand

The fossilised imprint of a beetle with a thick thorax and tail and a long thin apparatus protruding from its mouth
Fossilized dinosaur eggshells can preserve amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, over millions of years

Evan Thomas Saitta, University of Chicago

A cross section showing long, multicolor columnar structures.
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Most read this week

1.
Cassava: The perilous past and promising future of a toxic but nourishing crop

Stephen Wooding, University of California, Merced

Cassava: The perilous past and promising future of a toxic but nourishing crop
2.
Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Debbie Passey, The University of Melbourne

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of
3.
We spent 2 years in deep underground caves to bring this extraordinary fossil to light

Tim Ziegler, Museums Victoria Research Institute

We spent 2 years in deep underground caves to bring this extraordinary fossil to light
4.
Future pandemics will have the same human causes as ancient outbreaks − lessons from anthropology can help prevent them

Ron Barrett, Macalester College

Future pandemics will have the same human causes as ancient outbreaks − lessons from anthropology can help prevent them
5.
Fossilised circles in the sand on South Africa’s coast may be artwork by our early ancestors

Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University and Jan Carlo De Vynck, University of the Witwatersrand

Fossilised circles in the sand on South Africa’s coast may be artwork by our early ancestors
6.
The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

Or Graur, University of Portsmouth

The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

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