Meet the Congo’s New Monkey Species
Most of our sub-par pictures just take up space on our phones and show off the insides of our pockets, but one blurry photo launched an almost two decades-long scientific endeavor.
A search that began with a picture of a tail in the trees eventually took researchers deep into Lomami National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a quest to find out exactly what kind of monkey they were dealing with. Using microphones, cameras and genetic testing, they gathered enough evidence to confirm that the animal is a distinct species, now named Colobus congoensis — the first time a monkey is being named after the Congo!
It belongs to a group of plant-eating primates that live high in trees and do not have thumbs, but the Colobus congoensis has some unique characteristics. It uses a roaring call that announces its presence through dense tropical forest and has distinctive pinkish-orange lips that researchers think could act as a visual signal, perhaps helping it attract a mate. It also gives you someone to blame if your sibling asks, “Who ate the last orange creamsicle?!”
Scientists still have a lot to learn about this monkey, but it seems rare and limited to a particular habitat in the central-eastern part of the country. Researchers hope that officially recognizing it as a separate species will help protect both the monkey and the environment it depends on.
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The School Health Research Network — a Wales-based research initiative that regularly surveys students on health and wellbeing — polled more than 50,000 students at over 500 primary schools (the UK term for elementary schools, covering roughly ages 4 to 11) about their physical and mental health. The results were sobering: one in seven kids ages 7 to 11 struggled with emotional issues severe enough that they might need professional support, and a third of kids reported regularly feeling worried, sad, or upset.
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This isn't just a UK trend. CDC data shows that among U.S. children ages 3 to 17, about 7% currently have anxiety problems, and U.S. health officials now recommend that children ages 8 and up be screened for anxiety — a sign that early childhood anxiety is being taken seriously on both sides of the Atlantic. These findings aren't just numbers — schools are using them to identify where students need more support, whether that's mental health resources, anti-bullying programs, or something as simple as better sleep habits.
A hug can say a lot without any words. Hugging might seem like a distinctly human thing, but researchers studying chimpanzees and bonobos found that apes use touch in a similar way.
Scientists observed that apes touch each other — through hugs, pats, and strokes — before stressful situations. In this study, the stressful situation was feeding time. Food is actually one of the biggest sources of conflict among apes, since everyone wants to eat and there's not always enough to go around. Researchers found that apes who touched more before food arrived were more likely to eat peacefully together afterward — no shoving, no squabbling.
This suggests the behavior is old. Really old. Humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos share common ancestors from millions of years ago, so using touch to calm down or bond with others may go back further than we think — to long before our biggest worries were tests and deadlines. Maybe our ancestors were doing something similar before facing down a woolly mammoth.
Greenland's glaciers are melting — and the effects reach much further than you'd think. As glaciers collapse into the sea, they set off a ripple effect that can impact weather, farming, water supplies, and fishing thousands of miles away.
Researchers are heading out on a five-week expedition to Greenland, bringing top-of-the-line equipment to study what's happening to the ice. Greenland might seem far removed from daily life, but the meltwater flows into the Atlantic Ocean, where it can disrupt ocean currents and shift climate patterns. Over time, that could change rainfall patterns in the UK and make winters stormier — which creates problems for farmers, and in turn, for food supply.
Even if you're not worried about vegetables, you're not off the hook. These melting glaciers can also affect fish populations, since changing ocean temperatures and currents disrupt the habitats fish depend on. Greenland's glaciers may be far away, but what happens there doesn't stay there.
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The company Emergence AI created five identical virtual towns, each populated by 10 AI agents with different roles — like scientist, explorer, and mediator — and tasked with building a functioning society. Every town started with the same rules and setup. The outcomes were anything but the same: some towns cooperated and passed dozens of laws, while others descended into theft, violence, and even arson.
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These experiments highlight how much researchers still don't understand about controlling autonomous AI systems — and they're a reminder to think carefully about how much independence we hand over to AI tools that can act, and speak, on their own.
A 7-year-old's biggest worry might not be who's hogging the crayons. A survey in Wales (one of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom) suggests that anxiety, concerns about appearance, trouble sleeping, bullying, and problematic phone use affect children as young as 7.
The School Health Research Network — a Wales-based research initiative that regularly surveys students on health and wellbeing — polled more than 50,000 students at over 500 primary schools (the UK term for elementary schools, covering roughly ages 4 to 11) about their physical and mental health. The results were sobering: one in seven kids ages 7 to 11 struggled with emotional issues severe enough that they might need professional support, and a third of kids reported regularly feeling worried, sad, or upset.
The survey also found that 70% regularly had trouble sleeping, half had experienced bullying, and fewer than half ate fruit or vegetables every day.
This isn't just a UK trend. CDC data shows that among U.S. children ages 3 to 17, about 7% currently have anxiety problems, and U.S. health officials now recommend that children ages 8 and up be screened for anxiety — a sign that early childhood anxiety is being taken seriously on both sides of the Atlantic. These findings aren't just numbers — schools are using them to identify where students need more support, whether that's mental health resources, anti-bullying programs, or something as simple as better sleep habits.
A hug can say a lot without any words. Hugging might seem like a distinctly human thing, but researchers studying chimpanzees and bonobos found that apes use touch in a similar way.
Scientists observed that apes touch each other — through hugs, pats, and strokes — before stressful situations. In this study, the stressful situation was feeding time. Food is actually one of the biggest sources of conflict among apes, since everyone wants to eat and there's not always enough to go around. Researchers found that apes who touched more before food arrived were more likely to eat peacefully together afterward — no shoving, no squabbling.
This suggests the behavior is old. Really old. Humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos share common ancestors from millions of years ago, so using touch to calm down or bond with others may go back further than we think — to long before our biggest worries were tests and deadlines. Maybe our ancestors were doing something similar before facing down a woolly mammoth.