For chimpanzees, the need to pee appears to be contagious. A study published January 20 in the journal Current Biology finds that when one chimpanzee urinates, the others in a group are more likely to follow. The phenomenon is called contagious urination, and could have deep evolutionary roots in humans and chimpanzeesour closest relatives.In humans, urinating together can be seen as a social phenomenon, study co-author and Kyoto University evolutionary biologist Ena Onishi said in a statement. An Italian proverb states, Whoever doesnt pee in company is either a thief or a spy, while in Japanese, the act of urinating with others is referred to as Tsureshon. This behavior is represented in art across centuries and cultures and continues to appear in modern social contexts.Onishi and colleagues decided to study this behavior when they observed that the chimpanzees in the sanctuary appeared to pee at roughly the same time. They were curious to see if urination could be similar to contagious yawning seen in humans.In the study, they documented peeing behaviors in 20 chimpanzees at the Kumamoto Sanctuary. In more than 600 hours, they saw 1,328 instances of urination. They then analyzed the observational data to see if peeing was significantly synchronized over time and looked to see if urination was potentially influenced by individuals nearby or shaped by social factors.They found that urination events were significantly more synchronized than would be expected if the animals were simply peeing at random times. The likelihood of contagious urination also increased if a chimpanzee was physically closer to the initial urinator.Individuals with lower ranks in the group were also more likely to pee when others were urinating. The team believes this suggests that urination patterns are influenced by social hierarchy. There could also be a tendency for the behavior to flow down the dominance structure.We were surprised to discover that the contagion pattern was influenced by social rank. Since there were no prior studies on contagious urination in any species, we drew parallels to contagious yawning, another semi-voluntary physiological behavior, Onishi said. Based on this, we initially expected that any social influences might resemble those seen in yawningsuch as stronger contagion between socially close pairs.However, the results indicated that social closeness did not have any effect on this action. Instead, social rank appeared to have the greatest influence, with lower-ranking individuals being more likely to follow.[ Related: Like humans, chimps often perform tasks differently when crowds are watching. ]This unexpected finding related to social hierarchy and ranking could reflect some kind of hidden leadership that synchronizes group activities, reinforcing social bonds, or an attention bias among lower-ranking individuals. The results may also have some implications for understanding and exploring the role that contagious urination may have in keeping a group together, facilitating coordination, or reinforcing social bonds within a group. According to the team, it also shows how some seemingly mundaneyet absolutely necessarybehaviors may have an overlooked social significance.Further study could better understand the specific functions and mechanisms that underlie contagious urination in chimpanzees and if it exists in other species.The post Peeing is contagious for chimpanzees appeared first on Popular Science.

NewsAnimalsIn chimpanzees, peeing is contagiousThis is the first study of copycat urination in an animal These chimps at a sanctuary in Japan display surprisingly contagious bathroom behavior.Kumamoto SanctuaryBy Gennaro Tomma6 seconds agoHate waiting in line for the bathroom? Chimpanzees have a social solution: Go all at once.A new study shows that peeing is contagious in chimpanzees, making it the first study to investigate contagious urination in animals, including humans, says Shinya Yamamoto, an animal behavior scientist at Kyoto University in Japan.While observing a group of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), something caught the attention of Ena Onishi, who also studies animal behavior at Kyoto University. I noticed a tendency for individuals to urinate at the same time, she says. This resemblance to certain human behaviors piqued my curiosity. In Japan, my home country, there is a specific term called Tsureshon, which refers to the act of urinating in the company of others.

Nature, Published online: 20 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00075-6Sustainability and artificial intelligence dominate our seventh annual round-up of exciting innovations.

A large new study has shed light on the wider health impacts of taking Ozempic-style drugs.

Sculpted everything in zbrush, textured in substance painted, setup and rendered in Blender! submitted by /u/SalvoIn3D [link] [comments]

Over the weekend, a discussion gained significant traction on Reddits largest Halo fan hub, focusing on 343 Industries approach to storytelling in their Halo games and why the team, now known as Halo Studios, continues to introduce new concepts with each title. Rebs Gaming, a well-known Halo insider, joined the conversation by offering an interesting insight, revealing that the development team listens to the community more than many would expect.Halo StudiosAccording to Rebs, quoting an anonymous 343 Industries developer, the studio had a cool roadmap to continue the story of Halo 5: The Guardians without needing a time-skip in the series sixth installment, Halo Infinite. However, that roadmap was abandoned at some point during Infinites development due to the communitys negative reaction to Halo 5s story, and because of this, the Guardians, who reportedly would have had a much bigger role in the sequel, were not made the focus. In fact, the reactions towards Guardians were so negative the narrative team tried to wrap it up as quickly as they could, the developer told the insider.Todays top post on the Halo Reddit page asks Why does 343 keep coming up with new concepts for each of their games? This question has been asked many times over the years, so I wanted to finally provide Halo fans with confirmation that its a result of negative reactions from Halo fans, Rebs wrote.While it cant be definitively confirmed that Halo Infinites original roadmap was abandoned because of community backlash due to the anonymous nature of Rebs source its not hard to believe it to be true, especially considering that even gaming outlets who often sing praises and give out 8-9/10s to mediocre titles if they have a big-name company listed as its developer or publisher criticized Halo 5s writing and story upon its release.Dont forget to join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post 343 Industries Rewrote Halo Infinites Story Because of Negative Feedback appeared first on CG SHARES.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is all set to restore two of its original six Avengers heroes to their former glory. A veteran director is in talks to take on a couple of MCU projects, one of which seems particularly likely and paves the way for this filmmaker's entry into the franchise.

Its 2025, and no, we still havent heard word about a Red God release date. In the meantime, though, Ive been holding myself over lately with the Red Rising board game. Turns out, a conveniently color-coded social hierarchy lends itself not just to timely social commentary, but also to the bones of a terrific board game.The whole crux of Red Rising, an excellent series of grimdark sci-fi novels written by Pierce Brown, is a futuristic version of humanity that has remade itself quite literally, via genetic modification into color-coded castes. Reds comprise the bottom of the ladder, manual laborers consigned to spend their lives mining for helium. Golds, meanwhile, are at the top: faster, smarter, stronger, and wealthier than everyone else. The rest of the social order breaks down into neatly clarified roles Silvers are bankers, Greens are tech wizards, Violets are artists and journalists, and so on. (You can see the whole hierarchy here.)The series consists of six novels to date, starting with 2014s Red Rising. Brown announced Red God, the sagas seventh and final entry, in 2022. But as of this writing, neither the author nor his publisher, Del Ray Books, have stipulated a release window for the book. The most recent in the series, Light Bringer, hit shelves in summer 2023, meaning its been a few years worth of a dry spell for Red Rising fans, who may be more accustomed to a regular release cadence than readers of some other popular fantasy books.But the board game tie-in is right there! Has been for years! And, saying this as a delirious fan of Browns series: It absolutely rules.Red Rising, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and Alexander Schmidt and published by Stonemaier Games in 2021, is a zippy, fiercely competitive tabletop game. Better yet, as an adaptation, its deliciously faithful to its source material.At the start of each game, every player randomly selects from one of six houses associated with the Institute, basically Red Risings version of Hogwarts. (The first novel is an archetypical training at the fantasy war school for kids who cant fantasy war good arc.) From there, each player draws five cards from a deck of more than 100, all of which are based on characters from the novels. You finish setting up by placing two cards, drawn from the deck, on each of the boards four locations: Jupiter, Mars, the Institute, or Luna (the moon).The general structure of a turn involves placing a card on one location and drawing a card from another. Depending on how and where you place your cards, youll make progress toward one of Red Risings three win conditions earning seven helium tokens, earning seven influence tokens, or moving your ship token seven spaces on the fleet track segment of the board and will ultimately earn points depending on how much progress you make toward each. The game ends when one player hits two of those conditions, or when all three are hit by any combination of players.Where Red Rising gets tricky is the endgame satisfying the games win conditions merely ends the game, but doesnt actually guarantee you the win.Every card has a point value. When the game ends, the point tally of cards in your hand counts toward your final score. Cards also have additional requirements that, when fulfilled, grant you even more points. (For instance, the characters Ragnar and Sefi are siblings; if you end the game with both in your hand, youll get a higher score.) In every round Ive played, whomever has the most points in-hand has been the victor and more often than not has always come from behind. So this isnt the sort of game, like Catan, where youre racing to victory. Instead, youll often find yourself trying to extend the match until you can get the strongest hand.Red Rising is a solid board game on its own merits, but it really shines when playing alongside fellow fans of the novels. For the most part, the cards are accurate reflections of the characters theyre based on. Gold cards tend to have the naturally highest point tallies. Red cards arent too powerful in isolation, but when you get a bunch of them together, you can amass a game-changing point total.This commitment to the source material gives a natural edge to those whove read the books and inherently understand, say, that Orange cards are tricky or White cards are incredibly rare. But its a blast playing with fellow Red Rising fans, shouting in mutual recognition when characters like Nero (Screw that guy!), the Jackal (Screw that guy!), or Lysander ([incoherent string of curses that are the functional equivalent of Screw that guy!]) appear on the board.Yes, we might still have to wait some time for Red God which, to be clear, Im of the mindset that Brown should take all the time he needs to stick a landing hes proud of. Thats fine. We can keep waiting. In the meantime, the Red Rising board game is a damn fine holdover.

Today, solutions make carbon emissions checks of digital products easily available, so why arent we dealing with the problem of waste?Continue reading on UX Collective

While tax rates always vary from state to state, what you can be sure of is a chunk of your income getting eaten up each paycheck. Some bright news: As of January 1, 2025, income tax rate cuts have gone into effect in nine states. Of these nine states, some cuts are minimal, while others are fairly sizable.Of course, whatever state you live in, I recommend getting ahead of the game right now by using a spreadsheet to track tax-related information throughout the year. For now, let's take a look at which lucky residents will catch a break in 2025.These states have lowered their income tax ratesHere's a basic breakdown of specific changes in each state:IndianaThe Hoosier State has implemented a modest reduction, with the income tax rate decreasing from 3.05% to 3% in 2025. While small, this change represents continued efforts to reduce the tax burden on Indiana residents.IowaIowa is making a significant shift to simplify its tax structure, moving to a flat income tax rate of 3.8% in 2025. This marks a substantial decrease from last year's top rate of 5.7%, potentially resulting in considerable savings for higher-income residents.LouisianaFollowing a similar approach to Iowa, Louisiana has transitioned from a graduated system to a flat tax rate of 3%, down from a previous top rate of 4.25%. Under this new system, residents who fall in the income bracket of $30,000-$40,000 (the most common bracket in the state) will pay approximately $338 annually in income taxes.MississippiMississippi residents will see their tax rate decrease from 4.7% to 4.4% in 2025. Notably, state officials have expressed ambitions to eventually eliminate income taxes entirely, though no specific timeline has been established.MissouriMissouri has implemented a modest reduction, with rates dropping from 4.8% to 4.7%. While the change is minimal, it continues the state's pattern of gradual tax relief.NebraskaNebraska taxpayers will benefit from a more substantial cut, with rates decreasing from 5.84% to 5.2%. This reduction represents one of the larger percentage drops among the nine states making changes.New MexicoNew Mexico maintains its graduated income tax system but has reduced rates in two of its six brackets. Those earning less than $5,500 annually will see their rate decrease from 1.7% to 1.5%, while residents earning between $16,500 and $33,500 will experience a reduction from 4.7% to 4.3%.North CarolinaThe Tar Heel State has reduced its rate from 4.75% to 4.5%, with plans for further reductions. The state has already announced its intention to lower the rate to 3.99% in 2026, demonstrating a long-term commitment to tax relief.West VirginiaWest Virginia has taken a different approach, implementing an across-the-board 4% reduction in overall income taxes for 2025. While specific rates haven't been detailed, the state joins Mississippi in expressing interest in eventually eliminating income taxes completely.Also of note: Tax rates aren't changing in 2025, but the thresholds for each bracket are rising to account for inflation and "bracket creep."The bottom line is, as always, you should consult with tax professionals to understand how these changes will affect your specific situations and to ensure you're taking full advantage of the new rates.