Health & Science

Apes who hunt their cousins

The bonobo, a species of forest ape closely related to chimpanzees, has long enjoyed a reputation among scientists as one of the most peaceful and loving primates on the planet. In the face of conflict, primatologists have observed, bonobos have orgies in lieu of battles. But the bonobo’s image has taken a hit, with researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute catching bonobos in the act of savagely hunting, killing, and eating several species of monkeys, which are their genetic cousins. Researchers noticed the finger of a black mangabey monkey in the feces of a bonobo, and began tracking the apes. They then witnessed a pack of bonobos ambush a tree full of red colobus monkeys, catch one, and eat it alive. The German team saw five more successful monkey hunts, all led by female bonobos. Previously, some evolutionary anthropologists had suggested that when bonobos branched off from the primate family tree about a million years ago, they lost the appetite for violence and occasional meat-eating found in chimps and humans. “The second I read this, I thought: Oh good, finally!” zoo primatologist Elizabeth Lonsdorf tells National Geographic. In captivity, she says, she’s seen bonobos kill and eat small animals that have wandered into their enclosures. “Bonobos being so peaceful never sat well with me.”

White wine gets its due

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Good news for people who prefer white wine to red: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and other whites, a new study has found, are similar to red wine in their heart-protective effects. Though white wine is made only from the pulp of the grape, and not the skin, it still contains the polyphenols that are believed to reduce inflammation, protect cells, and bolster cardiovascular health. “The flesh of the grape can do the same job as the skin,” molecular biologist Dipak Das tells New Scientist. “We can safely say that one to two glasses of white wine per day works exactly like red wine.”

The low-carb blues

Low-carb diets such as Atkins and the Zone may temporarily result in weight loss, says The Harvard Health Letter, but some dieters find that a low-carb lifestyle makes them sluggish and depressed. Carbohydrates help the brain synthesize serotonin, a very important, mood-lifting neurotransmitter. Several studies have found that when healthy, active people went low-carb for a few weeks, they suffered more fatigue and bad moods than dieters who chose to cut calories in other ways. When Australian researchers tested for this effect in a group of obese people on a low-carb diet, they found no depression, but did see a deterioration in mental-processing speeds.

Another new African virus

A frightening new virus related to Lassa fever has killed three people in Johannesburg, says Agence France-Press. The virus, like Lassa and the dreaded Ebola virus, produces a hemorrhagic fever, which starts with flu-like symptoms, and can evolve into multi-system failure involving massive bleeds. The original patient with the new disease got sick in Zambia, probably by contact with infected mice. Two of the people who helped care for her at a hospital in Johannesburg, a nurse and a paramedic, subsequently developed the same symptoms and died. The new illness is believed to be an arenavirus, transmitted by rodents that are often carried around as “pocket pets” by Africans. Bob Swanepoel, one of the world’s leading experts on hemorrhagic viruses, tells New Scientist that the Zambian virus may be just emerging—“or it may always have been out there and we’re only recognizing it now. It’s shocking how little we know about the viruses that are circulating

in Africa.”

Why seniors should use the Web

Surfing the Internet is great exercise for the aging brain, says a new study. Physicians and scientists have long advocated “brain exercises” such as puzzles and word games to stave off age-related loss of cognitive function. As it turns out, daily Internet searches are a terrific workout for the mind: They demand attention from verbal, memory, and problem-solving areas of the brain. Googling for health information or a good local restaurant is an excellent way for seniors, especially, to clear the cobwebs from unused corners of the mind, says professor Gary Small of the University of California. “A simple, everyday task like searching the Web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults,” he says, “demonstrating that our brains can continue to learn as we grow older.”