Monkeys, they’re just like us! Yes, we share a ton of genes, but socially, researchers recently found monkeys from groups that lived through a deadly outbreak became much more wary of tainted food afterward. Now you’re starting to see why Taco Bell is still trying to recover from that tainted lettuce scare.

As The New York Times described them, they’re basically “germaphobe monkeys,” an apt nickname for the Japanese macaques observed in a study published in Royal Society Open Science.

When a virus tore through a South Texas macaque sanctuary, three out of four monkey groups watched their neighbors suffer and die from a disease spread through bites and scratches. Once the epidemic faded, cognitive scientists from the University of California, San Diego set up an experiment, the results of which they detailed in a press release.

Offered they macaques two food choices, food on a clean surface versus food on a board covered in feces.

Scientists Discovered That Monkeys Become Germaphobes After Surviving a Deadly Outbreak

That’s an easy choice for you, but for the macaques, a little s—t on their food isn’t usually a deal breaker. Monkeys that hadn’t been exposed to the virus happily eat the poop-covered food 79 percent of the time. But macaques from groups that survived the outbreak and witnessed its horrors only ate the poop-covered food 47 percent of the time.

Sure, if you knew someone who ate poop-covered food 47 percent of the time, you would think they were deranged. But again, these are monkeys, and 47 percent is crazy low.

What’s so fascinating here, and what’s so weirdly human about this phenomenon, is that the initial virus that wiped out so many of the monkeys wasn’t transmitted through food at all, and yet, like so many of us in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic who were furiously scrubbing down groceries in hopes of eliminating all traces of what would ultimately turn out to be an airborne virus, the monkeys that survived the outbreak turned into hypochondriac neat freaks, and justifiably so. They had undergone a severe trauma, and they were mitigating potential vectors of infection.

The researchers say that the psychological defense mechanism stems from something called the “behavioral immune system,” which triggers disgust in the brain to ward off perceived threats. When we went through a global pandemic that shut down the world, we went apes—t with the hand sanitizer. After the macaques went through their own tiny version of a pandemic, their sense of security was on high alert based on past trauma.

Strongly suggesting that avoidance of potentially disease-ridden stuff is a learned social behavior, potentially handed down from mother to baby, the researchers found that former pets and lab-reared monkeys were more willing to eat the dirty food. Poor things. They never had a mama to teach them not to eat food covered in poop.

The post These Monkeys Survived a Deadly Outbreak, Then Started Acting a Lot Like Humans appeared first on VICE.

Reincarnation doesn’t seem like it’s a supernatural phenomenon that’s going to be definitively proven anytime soon with scientific research or study of any kind. But the descriptions in people’s reports of memories of past lives can be studied, and recently were. A study published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice that peered into 1,600 stories of reincarnation found a weird recurring pattern in the tales.

Researchers at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies went through an extensive archive of over 1,600 cases where kids allegedly recalled the life of a specific, identifiable dead person.

First, let’s define a term: Intermission Time, which is the kind of temporal waiting period between a person dying and getting recycled back into a newborn baby. That time, according to the pattern uncovered by the researchers, is roughly 16 months among the cases that actually had a timetable attached to them.

People Who Died Suddenly or Violently Were Reportedly Reincarnated Faster, Study Finds

There were some exceptions that also yielded some fascinating patterns. Whenever a person died a sudden, unexpected death, or if it was violent, their soul was apparently moved further up the respawn queue, taking only 12 months to reincarnate, a 40 percent reduction compared to people who had died slowly from natural causes.

Lead author Saeedeh Sadeghi and her team tested for every logical explanation imaginable, trying to find some connective thread that can explain why so many of these very specific timelines are cropping up.

Things like parental involvement or religious beliefs or maybe some lightly shared cultural folklore might help explain… Some aspect of this. It didn’t. Researchers admit they don’t really know how to explain any of this. They admit that the accelerated rebirth pattern among people who died unexpectedly was even stronger in families whose religions didn’t believe in reincarnation.

None of this is definitive proof of an afterlife or of reincarnation. It’s more likely that all of this could be chalked up to coincidence, a statistical quirk. But it is a weird correlation that’s difficult to explain, and may never have a neat and tidy explanation. But, hey, feel free to use this as the basis of your next horror novel. It seems ripe for spooky supernatural narratives.

The post Scientists Found a Disturbing Pattern in Reincarnation Stories, and They Can’t Explain Why appeared first on VICE.

Elder millennials were technically alive the last time Halley’s Comet came around, though most of us were still learning to walk. And it won’t officially be back until 2061. 

But there’s a way to see pieces of it this week. NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke suggested something for anyone who doesn’t want to wait another 35 years. “For those who haven’t seen Comet Halley, if you don’t want to wait for its return, you can at least go out and see the Orionids,” he told CNN. This year’s Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 21, into Thursday morning.

Every October, Earth passes through a trail of dust and rock left behind by Halley’s Comet. Those particles burn up in our atmosphere, giving us the Orionids. The same comet debris also produces the Eta Aquariids meteor shower in May. Meanwhile, Halley’s Comet is out near Neptune’s orbit, absolutely nowhere near us.

And these things freaking move. Orionid meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere at around 41 miles per second, making them some of the fastest meteors we can see. They can produce bright streaks, the occasional fireball, and glowing trails that hang around for a few seconds afterward.

A Meteor Shower Made From Halley’s Comet Is Peaking Tonight. Here’s When to Look Up.

Unfortunately, the moon isn’t doing anyone any favors this year. A bright waxing gibbous moon will wash out many fainter meteors on Wednesday night. According to NASA, your best chance comes after it sets around 3 a.m. local time. Under ideal conditions, the Orionids can produce 10 to 20 meteors per hour, although people in suburban areas will probably see closer to three to six.

If you’re going to watch, find somewhere away from city lights and give your eyes time to adjust. Bring a blanket and something comfy to sit on, especially if you’ll be out there a while. You won’t need a telescope, and there’s no reason to stare directly at Orion. The meteors can appear anywhere in the sky.

Fun fact: Mark Twain had an interesting connection to Halley’s Comet. He was born in 1835, the year it passed, and predicted he’d die when it returned. In 1909, he wrote, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.” He died on April 21, 1910, one day after the comet reached its closest point to the Sun.

If you’re willing to get out of bed at 3 a.m., you might catch a few pieces of the same comet. At least you won’t have to wait another 35 years.

The post Pieces of Halley’s Comet Will Light Up the Night Sky Tonight. Here’s How to See Them. appeared first on VICE.

Earth’s core is leaking, and it has been for a long time.

Earth’s core, frankly, sounds insane. It’s a molten ball covered in a lava ocean that spews lethal gases and occasionally ejects some of itself through volcanoes. It used to be so wild that the planet was uninhabitable, but it eventually settled down enough for humans to exist on it.

According to a study in Science Advances by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China, that core is constantly oozing chemical leftovers from the birth of our Solar System. For years, scientists have debated whether these weird deep-Earth ingredients get trapped in the mantle when the planet first cooled, or whether Earth’s core is slowly leaking material into the outer layers.

The Center of Earth Is Leaking Ancient Material, and Scientists Are Trying to Understand Why

To figure it out, scientists used computer simulations to model how hydrogen moves. Like sodas or cigarettes, hydrogen comes in a “light” version and a “heavy” version. The heavy one is called deuterium. If early Earth froze, the heavy and light versions would be mixed pretty evenly everywhere. But when scientists look at lava from volcanic hotspots in Iceland and Baffin Island, they find way more of the superlight version of hydrogen.

This means that the original cooling process couldn’t have caused this current setup. Instead, light hydrogen trapped in the planet’s metal core billions of years ago, when the Sun was forming, is actively leaking into the mantle like air from a punctured tire.

This light hydrogen, along with ancient helium and tungsten, rides hot lava streams to the planet’s surface, meaning that for the past several billion years ancient gases trapped in Earth’s core have been slowly burping their way out.

The post Scientists Just Discovered That Earth’s Core Is Leaking, and It Has Been for Billions of Years appeared first on VICE.

Other than having a living plesiosaur in front of you, you probably won’t get much closer to the creature than by finding some of its bones, but maybe some of its bodily excretions would help you learn what was going on in its now-missing digestive tract. But how do you even come across the, let’s say, puke of a creature that’s been dead for tens of millions of years?

According to new research published in Geological Magazine by geologist Dirk Knaust, oil crews drilling off the Norwegian coast accidentally hauled up 160-million-year-old plesiosaur puke from deep underwater rock cores dating to the Jurassic period.

Samples range from walnut-sized to mango-sized, just in case you never want to look at those foods in the same way again.

160-Million-Year-Old Vomit Could Reveal How Prehistoric Sea Monsters Ate

Plesiosaurs were long-necked aquatic sea monsters that measured 13 to 26 feet long and looked almost exactly like you’d imagine the Loch Ness monster. When the researchers found the fossilized vomit, I didn’t immediately assume it belonged to a Jurassic creature. It could’ve been fossilized poop or maybe storm debris. Maybe it belonged to a fish or squid? But no, because they can’t cough up chunks this big.

If it was a prehistoric shark or a crocodile, they probably would’ve found some fish in there. With all other possibilities ruled out, Cryptoclididae plesiosaurs were the last possibility remaining.

These massive reptiles moved along the deep seafloor using their long necks like vacuum cleaners to scoop up bottom-dwelling invertebrates. Their teeth weren’t strong enough to grind shells, so their stomachs compacted the indigestible stuff into gross pellets they later vomited up.

But what I find most interesting is that plesiosaurs didn’t just puke wherever they swam. Scientists found the items they barfed up in what used to be shallow ancient river deltas. So, like fur seals or marine crocodiles after a big meal, these ancient aquatic beasts probably swam into safe coastal waters to chill out for a bit, eventually puking their meals into the mud before napping and heading back out to sea.

Now that’s livin’.

The post Scientists Just Found 160-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Vomit From a Jurassic Sea Monster appeared first on VICE.

In 1873, an Argentine sailor named Luis Piedra Buena loaded a crew onto a ship called the Espora and headed toward the Strait of Le Maire, a rough stretch of ocean near Patagonia known for tearing hulls to smithereens. He risked his crew’s lives for the noble quest of murdering a bunch of penguins to harvest their grease for oil.

Somewhere along the way, the ship wrecked near Isla de los Estados. Piedra Buena and his crew suddenly became castaways, struggling to survive on unfamiliar shores. The Penguins, having no idea they came this close to being scooped up and turned into lamp oil or whatever, still don’t care about humanity’s plight.

Eventually, the crew slapped together a makeshift sailboat and made it to Chile. The penguins kept on doing their thing.

Archaeologists May Have Found the Lost Shipwreck of 19th-Century Penguin Hunters

Now, according to a study published in the journal Antiquity and reported by IFLScience, archaeologists searching around Franklin Bay have uncovered the ruined wooden ribs of a 19th-century ship, along with a crude castaway camp on a nearby hillside.

The researchers dug up salvaged ship parts, including whole timbers and a deck prism, and found a smattering of distinctly human clutter—glass bottles, buttons, beads, and tools. While this belongs to Piedra Buena and his crew, the most logical explanation, the researchers aren’t claiming that just yet, just to be safe.

There’s more testing to be done, but it’s hard to deny that the location and all the artifacts combined heavily suggest that there may have been a bunch of stranded penguin hunters who may have ripped their ship to shreds to fashion it into an improvised boat that could possibly, maybe, get them to Chile.

Hypothetically.

The post Archaeologists Uncovered a 150-Year-Old Shipwreck That May Have Belonged to Stranded Penguin Hunters appeared first on VICE.

Thanks to a team of heroes, a southern ground hornbill, belonging to Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo, is now flourishing with a brand-new prosthetic beak. The bird received two 3D-printed prostheses, as both the upper and lower portions of his natural beak were broken. In a press statement, Artis penned that, while other birds have been the happy recipients of prosthetic beaks, “As far as is known, this is the first time in the world both parts of a bird’s beak have been restored in this way.”

While the young bird of honor valiantly managed to persist adequately enough in his everyday life prior to the surgery, the zoo confirmed that his behavior was restricted, and he couldn’t care for himself all that well. Obviously, the southern ground hornbill relies on its beak for purposes as preening and foraging, thus he had trouble picking up certain pieces of food.

Fortunately, the bird began using his new beak the very same day it was attached. Before continuing with the article, you can see below that the heartwarming medical miracle means that he’s already back to grossing some of us out by preying on mice.

View this post on Instagram

This Bird Got a Brand-New 3D-Printed Beak, and He’s Already Putting It to Work

The life-altering procedure was performed by Artis, Utrecht University, UMC Utrecht, and Amnovis. The artificial beak was developed with the help of a CT scan and preserved sections of the bird’s original beak. Both plastic and titanium elements were incorporated. The NY Post adorably applauded the “im-peck-able performance.”

Of course, Artis is keeping an eye both on the bird and his female partner in order to make sure that all continues to go swimmingly, though they are prepared to step in if any issues occur.

Now, watch the complex procedure for yourself! Warning: Although it’s unbelievable, it just might be a bit disturbing for animal lovers to see the anesthetized bird.

View this post on Instagram

The post WATCH: Scientists Gave an Injured Bird a Second Chance With Two 3D-Printed Beak Prosthetics appeared first on VICE.

Have you noticed that healthy eating doesn’t always leave you feeling full of those vitamins and minerals that translate into energy and glowing skin? According to a report from Deep Science Ventures, many fruits and vegetables available for purchase are half as nutritious as they were 60 years ago.

Thus, consumers often have to eat twice as much to receive the same levels of minerals as magnesium, potassium, and copper. The 20-50% drop in key nutrients and minerals extends to other crops like wheat and foods in general. Your breads won’t have the same iron, zinc, and magnesium that your grandparents’ loaves had in the 1960s. It is no wonder that so many of us suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.

Declining soil quality is a key factor to blame. Also, as global demand has increased, the focus on high-yield crop varieties and farming practices hasn’t always been conducive to health. In addition, you might have noticed during your last trip to (even to a supposedly upscale) grocery store that many of the products felt and looked as though they had been stored for ages. We are all moreover aware of the horrors of genetically modified foods, and now there are all the fears surrounding lab-grown options.

A New Report Suggests Some Foods Have Lost Up to Half Their Nutritional Value

It can be difficult to tell which of our healthy habits need improvement these days. For example, even our berries can seem like little carcinogens: Driscoll’s CEO stepped down at the end of August amid complaints about pesticides. With all the causes for paranoia, even concerning supposedly organic foods, my admiration grows for those among us who rely upon themselves, opting for homesteading.

Obviously, farmers who use ethical practices should be supported. Yet, they often are not… Thus, our French farmer friends, for instance, have demonstrated their grievances by heading into town and spraying government buildings and more with manure — proof of their ingenuity.

The post Fruits and Veggies Are Less Nutritious Than They Were 60 Years Ago (And Scientists Don’t Know Why) appeared first on VICE.

You’ve probably seen it with your own eyes before, but a research team that published its findings in the journal Science says it noticed it at an epigenetic level: big dogs age faster. Chihuahuas, for as obnoxiously yappy as they are, seemed to last forever, while Great Danes, those big lovable galoots, give you about a decade before they cross the rainbow bridge.

Researchers at Arizona State University analyzing DNA from nearly 900 dogs in the Dog Aging Project finally know why big dogs don’t last as long. It all has to do with rogue “jumping genes.”

Scientists Say ‘Jumping Genes’ Could Explain Why Big Dogs Have Shorter Lives

Inside dog DNA, a specific class of “jumping” genes called LINE1s exists. Normally, a biological process called DNA methylation stamps chemical tags onto these genes to keep them locked down, but as big dogs age, that regulatory process falls apart and LINE1s start shaking loose, jumping between chromosomes, shredding DNA apart in the process, thus causing instability in the cells, triggering inflammation and cancer.

This happens to all dogs, but in big dogs it happens catastrophically and early. Giant breeds shed roughly 35 percent more LINE1 methylation per year than smaller dogs that fit in a purse.

Or, to put it less scientifically: there’s just too much dog for their bodies to keep up with. Humans specifically bred big dogs for their rapid growth, but that early growth leads to a genetic mess later in life, as their biological clocks essentially run twice as fast as a smaller dog’s.

The researchers think these out-of-control jumping genes could be a universal mammalian aging mechanism, and that learning more about them could eventually help us learn a little about ourselves, too, since dogs get a lot of the same age-related diseases that we do, largely because we share environments.

The post Scientists Finally Figured Out Why Big Dogs Age Faster Than Small Dogs appeared first on VICE.

Shark week has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we can’t squeeze in a few more shark stories before the year is up.

According to a study published in Marine Biology and detailed by ScienceAlert, scientists analyzing thousands of drone flights off Australia’s east coast discovered that dozens of young scalloped hammerhead sharks are just chilling in the shallow waters right next to popular swimming beaches. The beachgoers are likely just a tiny bit more concerned about the hammerheads than the hammerheads are about the beachgoers.

While reviewing more than 20,000 drone flights for Queensland’s SharkSmart program, researcher Maddison Cross and her team spotted swarms of up to 100 juvenile hammerheads hanging out at tourist hot spots like Burleigh Beach and Noosa Main Beach. These are roughly three-and-a-half-foot-long teenagers.

Why Young Hammerhead Sharks Are Gathering Just off Popular Australian Beaches

The young aquatic predators cluster in shallow surf zones during Australia’s autumn months as scientists suspect that these coastal cluster hangout spots were kind of like a combination safe haven and food court for the sharks, allowing the juveniles to feed on prey that hang out at nearby reefs while offering protection via their safety-in-numbers approach.

Beachgoers are probably worried about shark attacks, but the sharks themselves were the ones in real danger, as these gathering spots overlap with Queensland’s shark control programs, which are often lethal. Shark nets and baited drum lines are responsible for killing over 600 scalloped hammerheads between 2000 and one in 2024; rather unfortunate considering that it’s a critically endangered species.  

Sharks generally mind their own business and will scatter if a human comes near, as evidenced by the fact that paddleboarders and snorkelers occasionally pass through these hang-out clusters, causing the groups to temporarily break up before reforming once the coast is clear, but if you’re planning on a trip down under to take in some of Australia’s gorgeous beaches, just know that there might be hundreds and hundreds of adolescent hammerhead sharks floating just beneath your feet.

The post Scientists Found Dozens of Hammerhead Sharks Hanging Out Near Swimmers. Here’s Why. appeared first on VICE.

Over the past year or so, I’ve covered a lot of Neanderthal-related discoveries. The biggest takeaway from it all is that they weren’t too dissimilar from us, which is in itself a revelation given that for so long we made their very name synonymous with stupid and out of touch. A new study of Neanderthals published recently in Scientific Reports follows that trend of revealing the humanity of the Neanderthal, and it’s all thanks to a stabbing.

Researchers were looking at a 75,000-year-old partial skeleton nicknamed Shanidar A, named after where they found it, the Shanidar Cave in Iraq. It had a circular 15-millimeter puncture on the left shoulder blade. Speaking to Reuters, study lead author Dr. Emma Pomeroy of the University of Cambridge says that the fatal wound was likely caused by a downward thrust from a wooden spear that punched through the chest, into the lung, and through the heart before exiting the back.

Rough stuff. One could even call it distinctly Neanderthal behavior, assuming it was the result of some kind of clash among rivals, even though it could’ve just as easily been an accident.

This Neanderthal May Have Been Killed by a Spear. His Other Injuries Tell a Different Story.

The suggestion of a violent act also reveals a distinctly human, maybe even kind of touching reality upon closer examination: this Neanderthal experienced a degree of empathy. Not in the stabbing that punctured lungs and heart, but in other features. Shanidar A had severe but healed facial trauma that included a mouth of mangled teeth, an injury that the researchers theorize Shanidar A could’ve only survived with communal help since they probably couldn’t properly chew their food.

As Pomeroy said, “The pain would have been extreme, and basic needs like eating and drinking would have been difficult, perhaps meaning Shanidar A needed food mashing and being able to rest. It’s likely that Shanidar A did need some care from members of the group for ​some basic needs during recovery.”

Neanderthals had some real bad PR, but the more we find out about them, the more we realize they weren’t a bunch of stupid brutes that forgot to branch off into higher intelligence like the rest of us. They were violent, but they were also caring, and they knew how to keep their communities alive and thriving, even if, in time, Homo sapiens came out on top.

The post Why This 75,000-Year-Old Stabbing Victim Is Changing How We See Neanderthals appeared first on VICE.

The prospect of living on the moon is getting even more far-fetched by the day. For example, researchers published concerning findings in The Planetary Science Journal using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, finding that the Moon is shrinking and covered in over 10,000 visible faults that trigger moonquakes.

Study author Thomas R. Watters, a scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, found that our nighttime companion rock is basically shriveling up like an old grape. As its interior cools, the moon’s radius has contracted by about 148 feet over the past 400 to 800 million years. That is a very, very slow rate of contraction, about 0.1 micrometers a year, but the structural consequences are immense for anyone hoping to build a lunar dream home.

The Moon Is Slowly Shrinking, Triggering Thousands of Faults and Moonquakes

The Earth distributes 90 percent of the seismic activity along a neat network of tectonic plate boundaries. The Moon is surrounded by a giant, unbroken shell, so when the interior contracts and stress isn’t released along predictable boundaries, the shell cracks. Moonquakes can pop up anywhere, without warning, meaning you’ll never quite feel confident enough in your real estate selection.

This poses a theoretical threat to lunar colonization, but also a practical, very real threat to NASA’s Artemis missions, which had already identified potential landing spots that were sitting uncomfortably close to active fault zones. A tremor could trigger a landslide or damage mission infrastructure. The study offered a silver lining for anyone hoping to build lunar infrastructure one day: areas with the thickest crust had fewer faults, making them the safest places to set up camp.

The post The Moon Is Shrinking, and Scientists Say That Could Be a Problem for NASA appeared first on VICE.

We’ve long known that humans are susceptible to something called the “bouba-kiki effect,” a weird trick of the brain that links the nonsense words “bouba” and “kiki” to specific shapes. “Bouba” feels soft and rounded, while “kiki” feels sharp and spiky, both looking a little like comic-book impact effects, or stars, with solid centers surrounded by spokes. Not that you needed me to explain that. You probably already imagined it.

As it turns out, a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences suggests dogs might be just as susceptible to this weird quirk of the brain as we are.

Researchers at the University of Parma gathered 51 domestic dogs and their humans to test whether the dogs share this quirk of the brain. Sitting in a room flanked by screens displaying the respective shapes, the dogs listened to a human voice broadcast the nonsense words while cameras and AI tracked their gaze.

When “bouba” played through the speakers, the dogs lingered on the rounded shape; when “kiki” dropped, they stared harder at the spiky shape.

Dogs and Humans Share a Strange Brain Quirk, New Study Finds

To make sure the owners weren’t influencing the results, the researchers reran the trial with owners wearing headphones blasting rock music. The results stayed the same.

The first cohort showed only a mild overall bias toward the spikier “kiki” shape, which the scientists attribute to the fact that dogs’ faces look much more angular and pointy than ours. This goes hand in hand with humans showing a similarly slight bias toward “bouba,” since we’re used to seeing rounded features.  But in the second test, where the human owners wore headphones, the dogs were just as likely to think of “kiki” as spiky and “bouba” as round as we were.

This suggests that whatever drives our ability to associate sounds with symbols isn’t exclusive to us, as recent studies also show that baby chicks and even macaque monkeys seem to agree that “kiki” is spiky and “bouba” is round. This sensory wiring could be shared across species.

Who knows, maybe other animals associate the sharpness or roundness of words with the sharpness or roundness of shapes?

The post How Your Dog’s Brain Works More Like Yours Than You Think, According to Scientists appeared first on VICE.