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Researchers compared bones from a T. rex hatchling to birds and other dinosaurs to estimate that it would have been about the size of a small house cat. (Nicholas R. Longrich et al./Biology)
“Tyrannosaurus were unsafe at any size,” says anatomist Eric Snively, a member of a team who analysed the teeth and foot bones of young dinosaurs to understand their behaviour soon after hatching. “Babies were quickly out of the nest and killing the heck out of things.” Tyrannosaurus rex fossils reveal that tiny hatchlings “were smashing into the bones of their food, just like giant adults”, says Snively.
Researchers have identified 11 locations in the human genome, and nine functional genes in or near these areas, that seem to be linked to borderline personality disorder (BPD) — the first evidence of genetic risk factors associated with the condition. The findings come from the largest genome-wide association study of BPD so far, including data from more than 12,000 people with the condition. The study is “an extraordinary step up from where we’ve been previously, with virtually no research being conducted on the condition at scale,” says psychiatrist Andrew McIntosh.
Reference: Nature Genetics paper
Last week, Beijing-based Moonshot AI unveiled ‘Kimi K3’, a large language model that the company says can handle large swathes of text, and match or outperform US models on tasks such as coding. The open-weight model has generated a buzz among some researchers that use AI models, partly because it’s well-tuned for running AI agents, a capability that made its predecessor Kimi K2.5 so popular in China. But K3 might not be made widely available internationally, partly because of Chinese policies that could limit the use of its domestic AI models overseas.
Features & opinion
An influx of studies is shedding new light on cachexia, a syndrome that causes muscle wasting and reduced appetite and affects up to 80% of people with cancer. The research has repositioned the condition as a whole-body syndrome of metabolism gone haywire, with psychological symptoms as well as physical, and has unearthed clues as to how the brain orchestrates it. And a handful of companies, including pharma giant Pfizer, are testing medicines for cachexia, raising hope that a treatment might be on the horizon.
Until world economies make the essential transition to low-carbon forms of energy, natural gas will be crucial, argues Yuxin Zhao, who is a scientist affiliated with one of China’s state petroleum companies. He explores how the gas resources that lie beneath fragile, remote deep-sea ecosystems can be best exploited. “The answer is balance — for which access is a privilege earned with proof of responsibility,” he writes, pointing to China’s ocean-governance approach as an example of how to “turn ecological restrictions into requirements for development”.
Blaming teenagers’ undeveloped brains when they don’t choose the ‘sensible’ path — by retaliating against an insult in a school corridor, for example — does them a disservice, argues evolutionary criminologist Evelyn Svingen. “Teenagers do weigh up what they are doing. The costs that weigh most heavily on them are social, and adults consistently underestimate how heavy they are,” she writes. “The teenager who hits back in the corridor is running on an ancient programme.” She offers advice on how schools and parents can “create an environment where the rewarding thing to do and the sensible thing to do point in the same direction”.
Image of the week
Scientists spotted this Arctic bobtail squid (Rossia moelleri) chilling on the seafloor just off the coast of eastern Greenland. Using a remotely operated vehicle, the team captured footage of the cephalopod — around 10 centimetres in length — tending to a mass of eggs in –1.6 °C waters, highlighting “the resilience of marine life in one of Earth’s most extreme environments”, say polar biologist and study co-author Paige Maroni. (Scientific American | 3 min read)
Reference: Polar Biology paper (Paige J. Maroni et al./Polar Biology (CC BY 4.0))
Today I’m enjoying “the world’s most beautiful word” as chosen by an international panel of linguists, writers and cultural experts convened by language-learning platform Babbel. The Māori word kaitiakitanga “is described as an inherited commitment — a duty passed down, not chosen — that links mana atua, mana tangata, and mana whenua: the authority and dignity of the spiritual realm, the human world, and the land itself,” writes journalist Brandi Morin in her newsletter, Indigenous Insider.
While I practice my pronunciation and plan how to drop this into my next conversation, why not send us your feedback on this newsletter? Your e-mails are always welcome at [email protected].
Thanks for reading,
Flora Graham, chief editor, Nature Briefing
With contributions by Jacob Smith
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