August Highlights in Science

Scientists do some awesome things. What new things did we learn in August 2021? That don’t have to do with COVID? This week’s highlights all have to do with animals acting in ways we may have thought were uniquely human.

Giraffes are Smarter Than We Thought! Scientists recently found that giraffes have complicated social lives, just like elephants, chimpanzees, and people. They have friends, especially when they’re young, and meet up for lunch dates. They even have daycare! There are groups of parents that have arrangements where they take turns looking after each others’ kids.

Fruit Flies Get Lonely: Scientists learned about a neurological pathway that connects social behavior to sleep and feeding patterns. That is, they saw connections between flies were were isolated, and disturbances to their sleep and eating. This isn’t surprising to anyone, but it’s nice to know it’s not just us.

Bats’ Baby Talk: Bats communicate vocally, but how do they learn to do so? Scientists observed bats using babbling and baby talk, just like people! The young bats were observed repeating syllables and vocal rhythms in a way that is similar to what human babies do when they’re learning how to talk.

STEMsmart will be going on vacation until September 8. Stay tuned for the conclusion to the How to Read Science Research and more exciting things in September!