2024-04-26

在不到1 000万年的时间里，非洲坦噶尼喀湖中已进化出约250种慈鲷科鱼类。研究人员现已将这些鱼类的探索行为与生态位适应联系起来，并确定了对该物种的探索行为有强烈影响的一种遗传变异。封面图片描绘了一条雄性帝王慈鲷鱼在繁殖状态下进行领地展示的情景。

About 250 cichlid fish species have evolved in Africa’s Lake Tanganyika in less than 10 million years. Researchers have now linked exploratory behavior to niche adaptation in these fish and identified a genetic variant with a strong effect on the exploratory behavior of the species. The image depicts a male emperor cichlid (Boulengerochromis microlepis) in breeding mood performing a territorial display.

2024-05-03

封面图展示了一个社会传播的过程，也就是通过精心挑选的种子个体，将创新和有益的想法与实践从面对面的社交网络中向外传播。研究人员对洪都拉斯176个偏远村庄的24 702名村民进行了一项随机实验，记录了如何优化这一过程，以及如何利用社会传播提高人类福祉。

This illustration shows a process of social contagion, whereby innovative and beneficial ideas and practices spread outward from carefully chosen seed individuals within face-to-face social networks. Using a randomized experiment involving 24 702 people in 176 isolated Honduran villages, researchers documented how this process can be optimized and how social contagion can be exploited to enhance human welfare.

2024-05-10

封面图展示的是木星卫星木卫一的光学图像，由“朱诺号”航天器于2024年2月飞掠木卫一时拍摄。木卫一表面覆盖着许多火山，在图片右下角可以看到“西河”火山喷发的羽状物。对木卫一稀薄大气的同位素测量表明，木卫一上的火山活动已经持续了数十亿年，可能自这个卫星形成以来就一直存在。

This optical image of Jupiter’s moon Io was taken by the Juno spacecraft during a flyby in February 2024. The surface is covered by volcanic features, and a plume from the erupting volcano Xihe is visible in the lower right. Isotopic measurements of Io’s tenuous atmosphere show that volcanism on Io has been ongoing for billions of years, potentially since the moon formed.

2024-05-17

海獭会使用石头作为工具打开捕食到的硬壳无脊椎动物。研究人员发现，当它们最喜欢的猎物所剩无几时，必须捕猎一些带有硬壳的替代猎物，而这些猎物在一般情况下无法仅仅通过啃咬开启，这时它们就可以使用工具处理猎物从而维持能量需求。这表明此种行为是一些水獭在资源有限的环境中生存的必要条件。

Sea otters use rocks as tools to break open hard-shelled invertebrate prey. Researchers found that, when preferred prey are depleted, tool use allows individuals to maintain energetic requirements through the processing of alternative hard prey that are typically inaccessible with biting alone. This suggests that this behavior is a necessity for the survival of some otters in environments with limited resources.