Toggle light / dark theme

It’s not just humans — chimpanzees also like to follow trends, study shows

Van Leeuwen also cited the example of a group of chimpanzees at a zoo in the Netherlands in which one female started walking as if she were carrying a baby even though she wasn’t.

Soon, all of the females had adopted this walking style, he said. In addition, when two new females were brought into the group, the one that adopted the style swiftly was integrated quickly, whereas the one that refused to walk in the group style took longer to be accepted.

For Van Leeuwen, these behaviors are about fitting in and smoothing social relationships, just as with humans.

Microsoft Authenticator on iOS moves backups fully to iCloud

Microsoft is rolling out a new backup system in September for its Authenticator app on iOS, removing the requirement to use a Microsoft personal account to back up TOTP secrets and account names.

Previously, the Microsoft Authenticator app required iOS users to sign in with a personal Microsoft Account to enable backups, regardless of whether they were using the app for personal or enterprise credentials.

This created problems in enterprise environments where organizations often like to keep personal and corporate data separated.

Chain of magnets transports proton beams over range of energies in test of future cancer treatment

While radiation treatments designed to kill cancer cells have come a long way, scientists and doctors are always exploring new ways to zap tumors more effectively. Recent tests at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory show that a small array of magnets designed as an offshoot of the Lab’s nuclear physics research could quite literally provide a path for such future cancer treatments.

The tests revealed that an arc of meticulously designed permanent magnets can transport beams of cancer-killing protons over a broad range of energies, from 50 to 250 million electron volts (MeV). “That’s the highest energy ever for this sort of beamline,” said Brookhaven Lab physicist Stephen Brooks, designer of the fixed-field magnets, and it’s an energy range that could enable more effective cancer treatment.

Specifically, the project is a step toward a possible future accelerator built using this technology, where physicians could rapidly switch among energies to deliver very fast lethal proton doses throughout a tumor’s depth.