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Originally published by University of Zurich , on October 30, 2024 As in humans, infants of common marmosets interact with several caregivers from birth and are thus exposed to intensive social interaction. Credit: Judith Burkart/UZH The d evelopment of primate brains is shaped by various inputs . However, these inputs differ between independent breeders , such as great apes, and cooperative breeders , such as the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) and humans . In these species, group members other than the parents contribute substantially to raising the infants from birth onwards. A group of international researchers led by Paola Cerrito from the University of Zurich's Department of Evolutionary Anthropology studied how such social interactions map onto brain development in common marmosets. The study provides new insights into the relationship between the timing of brain development and the socio-cognitive skills of marmosets , in particular their prosocial and coo...

Knowing the genes responsible for water bears’ radiation tolerance could lead to diverse applications, from cancer treatment to space exploration. Originally published by   Miryam Naddaf , Nature, on 24 October 2024 The new species is similar in appearance to this Hypsibius sp. tardigrade, photographed using an electron microscope.Credit: Robert Schuster/Science Photo Library A newly described species of tardigrade is giving scientists insights into what makes these tiny eight-legged creatures so resistant to radiation . Tardigrades , also known as water bears , have long fascinated scientists with their ability to withstand extreme conditions , including radiation at levels nearly 1,000 times higher than the lethal dose for humans . There are around 1,500 known tardigrade species, but only a handful are well-studied. Now, scientists have sequenced the genome of a species new to science , and revealed some of the molecular mechanisms that give tardigrades their extraordinar...

‘Bricks’ of DNA, some of which have chemical tags, could one day be an alternative to storing information electronically. Originally published By Heidi Ledford at Nature, on 23 October 2024 Chemical markers attached to pre-fabricated units of DNA can easily encode data. Credit: Nobeastsofierce/SPL DNA has been humanity’s go-to data repository for millennia . Tough and compact, it is so information-dense that just one gram of it can hold enough data for 10 million hours of high-definition video . But there is always room for improvement . An innovative method now allows DNA to store information as a binary code — the same strings of 0s and 1s used by standard computers . That c ould one day be cheaper and faster than encoding information in the sequence of the building blocks that make up DNA , which is the method used by cells and by most efforts to harness DNA for storing artificially generated data . The method is so straightforward that 60 volunteers from a variety...