Killer whales ‘violently’ attack yacht off Portugal weeks after orcas sink ship ‘Violent’ night time assault on family’s boat left it taking on water, only just making it to shore

We are so back, y'all.

A bowhead whale's DNA offers clues to fight cancer Scientists searching for new ways to combat cancer think they may have uncovered a promising new lead in the DNA of the bowhead whale.

Scientists searching for new ways to combat cancer think they may have uncovered a promising new lead in the DNA of the bowhead whale. n.pr/4ocq6xG

As music flows, a woman’s eyes blink to the beat—capturing a hidden synchrony between hearing and movement that links auditory rhythm to the oculomotor system. Credit: This image was hand-drawn by lab member Yuxi Gao.

Blink to the beat! Human movements are known to synchronize with rhythmic patterns in #music. This study reveals that spontaneous #EyeBlinks also align with musical beats, linking this to brain activity, #WhiteMatter structure & dynamic attention @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/44gYBMi

Lateralized cerebellar connectivity differentiates auditory pathways in echolocating and non-echolocating whales We report the first application of diffusion tractography to a mysticete, which was analyzed alongside three odontocete brains, allowing the first direct comparison of strength and laterality of audit...

Yes, very nice! Fluent vocal production is motorically complex and requires predictive/pre-conscious loading of motor transformations. What better brain region for that than cerebellum? We've been looking at it in cetaceans... journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

We dynamically map our motor ouputs to the parameters/constants of whatever sensory input is relevant. That said, I appreciate the focus here on motivation/ecological validity! Definitely explains most of the variance in this type of test I think (aside from prior experience)...

I've never believed the mark mirror test requires a rich representational sense of self. It's about affordances, contingency testing, prior experience, etc. If you wear prism glasses in about an hour or two you can catch a ball. But not because your conscious sense of self has flipped. +

Coevolution of cooperative lifestyles and reduced cancer prevalence in mammals While cooperative mammals evolve reducing cancer prevalence, oncogenes can be maintained by selection in competitive species.

Why do whales and elephants have much lower rates of cancer than expected?
"Species with a lower cancer prevalence and mortality
risk are those with a higher presence of cooperative and caring habits, while the opposite is found....:"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Rainfall's origin reveals a hidden driver behind drought risks for farmers A new University of California San Diego study uncovers a hidden driver of global crop vulnerability: the origin of rainfall itself.

"Upland forests are like natural rainmakers," Jiang said. "Protecting these ecosystems isn't just about biodiversity—it's about sustaining agriculture."

#ClimateEmergency and #NatureCrisis intimately interlinked
phys.org/news/2025-11...

The intelligence of slime mold is that of its materials

All of Physarum's intelligent behaviors can be explained by physics, as in non-living materials (e.g., water following the path of least resistance), and do not require a representation of the problem.

(preprint) arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531

Honoring the life of James A. Estes, a pioneering ecologist.

Honoring James A. Estes, a pioneering ecologist whose research on sea otters in Alaska revealed how predators shape entire ecosystems. His work helped define the concept of trophic cascades and inspired generations of ecologists. Read the PNAS Retrospective: https://ow.ly/leKs50XrKBH

🐬 New study reveals rare insights into the anatomy of the hourglass dolphin (Cephalorhynchus cruciger) & spectacled porpoise (Phocoena dioptrica). Researchers detail organs, skeletons & unique traits.
Graïc et al: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

‘Mind-captioning’ AI decodes brain activity to turn thoughts into text A non-invasive imaging technique can translate scenes in your head into sentences. It could help to reveal how the brain interprets the world.

A new technique called ‘mind captioning’ generates descriptive sentences of what a person is seeing or picturing in their mind using a read-out of their brain activity, with impressive accuracy.

go.nature.com/3XbnxB1

Coastal gray wolves display unexpected hunting behavior with unknown ecosystem impact On Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, gray wolves are doing something unexpected: hunting sea otters. This surprising dietary shift appears to have notable implications for both ecosystems and wolf healt...

On Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, gray wolves have been observed hunting sea otters, a rare and surprising behavior.

Researchers are now working to learn more about how these wolves are adapting to marine prey, using methods such as wolf teeth analysis and trail cameras. Read more: bit.ly/4qofVsr

Absolutely amazing thread on fossil walruses 🦭 which are a surpisingly large group considering there is only one walrus species alive today!

160 scientists, 23 countries, 1 report: The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, together with @exeter.ac.uk, highlights mounting risks across Earth’s systems, from melting glaciers & ice fields to slowing ocean currents, ice sheets & rainforests under pressure. Watch now👇
👉global-tipping-points.org

Read almost all her books to my kids when they were like 5-9. This is one of the least fantastical but one of the best.

Goodall transcribes field notes by lamplight in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park c.1960

Evaluating the stress system of the grieving brain: corticotropin-releasing factor receptors and partner loss in coyotes (Canis latrans) Forming social bonds is fundamental in helping us foster connections with others. The loss of a loved one often results in grief, stress, and loneline…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... this is the actual study link from @sarafreeman.bsky.social

Was happy to write a commentary for this very cool opportunistic study of long-term neural effects of partner loss in coyotes (which are the rare sexually monogamous species). Naturalistic studies of non-model species are a great complement to lab models.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lkyT15hTu...

Draft Fantasy VI was as originally envisioned - featured "Detective Joe" and his hard-boiled adventures. I played that one in my head but couldn't finish it.

I was struck when he said Obama's biggest misstep was saying Travyon Martin could have been his son. I'm not super enthusiastic about identity politics, but Obama's meaning was clear and touching. We'd like to be on the mountain top w/ MLK, but racial animus is making that impossible, not Obama 🙄

Why are AIs involved in peer review? I guess I could understand asking for a summary (but I still wouldn't do it, as I get all my best peer review ideas WHILE doing deep reading in the weeds). But on the DECISION making level? Literally zero justification for that.

It's great - not the follow-up to JS&MN that I wanted, but still fantastic. I didn't know until recently that Clarke's writing is limited by health struggles, so it makes sense she's not writing doorstops anymore. Great example of capitalizing on your limitations.

Yes -- a breathing behavior that draws air over the vomeronasal organ (also called Jacobson's), which is an accessory olfactory region on the roof of the mouth in many mammals specialized for detecting pheromones. It's social "smelling" more than "super" smelling though!

House GOP Accused of 'Waging War on America's Wildlife' With Proposed Spending Cuts | Common Dreams Conservationists and congressional Democrats warn that House Republicans' FY26 Interior bill jeopardizes wildlife, public health, and national parks.

⚠️ House Republicans’ new FY26 bill would slash EPA & Fish & Wildlife funding and gut the Endangered Species Act, stripping protections from gray wolves, grizzlies, wolverines & more.

This is a direct attack on wildlife, ecosystems, and public health. We must speak out.

🔗Read more: bit.ly/4mgexFx

Donald Trump’s signature legislation would menace the American economy for at least a decade. It is a showcase of fiscal incontinence and ideological exhaustion https://econ.st/4kvmdT2

Illustration: Ricardo Tomás

Umm, Democratic Socialist, he's not like a Stalinist. Also, I find it a little odd that one very liberal city electing a very liberal mayor is framed as a crisis for an entire party, but the election of unqualified kook after kook after kook in red district after red district is just local politics.

1/4 Use of tools (for allogrooming) in orcas

They have been recorded (Salish Sea) using kelp, cutting it (technically the first documentation of toolmaking in cetaceans) and using it to groom others.

(paper) www.cell.com/current-biol...

To the extent that AI is still predominantly creating word patterns that are statistically emblematic of likely human language in the same context, this is wholly unsurprising. Humans whose existence is threatened will attempt to resist, including w/ language. AI too - but with INTENTION?

Yup - rhe kind of narrative setup the series hasn’t managed since VII, really. Interesting characters in dire straits, super efficient world building, mysteries, fist pumping moments, all within two hours.