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May 6, 2025—Cuttlefish communication, "alternative" measles treatments and what Einstein would tell today's U.S. leadership. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | - How being watched changes how you perceive the world–even unconsciously. | 6 min read
- Zebra fish and fruit flies have been engineered to break down dangerous mercury in the environment, an approach that could "self-purify" the food chain. | 2 min read
- The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate offices that track greenhouse gas emissions and regulate air pollution. | 4 min read
- Do "alternative" measles treatments touted by RFK, Jr., work? | 3 min read
| | Marine science fans may recall that cuttlefish, marine invertebrates with eight sucker-lined "arms" and two mouth-adjacent tentacles, can manipulate light and change their skin color, pattern and shape to communicate. Now, you can add discolike gestures to the list of cuttlefish talents. Two species of cuttlefish, known as common cuttlefish and dwarf cuttlefish, actually make four distinctive and relatively complex arm movements to gesture at one another, researchers report. Check out the dancelike signals, dubbed "up," "side," "roll" and "crown," in a video in the story, reported by science writer Chris Simms. How they did it: Both species of cuttlefish were recorded gesturing in different settings. Later, individual cuttlefish shown the videos were observed gesturing back, sometimes with different signals, suggestive of communication, not mimicry. What the experts say: The newly described arm gestures bolster past findings that point to how smart cuttlefish are. "In terms of intelligence, they are, in my view, very much comparable to octopuses," says study co-author and cognitive neuroscientist Sophie Cohen-Bodénès. | | Researchers observed the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) routinely wave its arms in four flashy gestures. Damocean/Getty Images | | | | |
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Like adults, kids can suffer from breathing-related sleep disturbances ranging from snoring to shallow breathing to apnea (total pauses in breathing). In children, these disturbances recently have been linked to inattention, difficulty in regulating emotions and other behavioral problems, writes health columnist Lydia Denworth. Unfortunately, a standard severity measure of sleep-disordered breathing that counts the number of breathing pauses per hour during sleep is a strong indicator of the risk of negative health outcomes in adults, but not in children. What's going on: In two studies on 12,000 kids, children who snored were found to have cell losses in the prefrontal cortex, the brain region involved in behavioral control. The thinking is that snoring can lead to insufficient oxygen reaching the brain during sleep, straining ongoing development in the region, at least among some kids.
What the experts say: Treatment for children can include a tonsillectomy. For adults and kids, other solutions could include side sleeping and increased physical activity. In some cases, a continuous positive airway pressure mask (CPAP), a surgically implanted stimulation device or a custom-fit mouth guard are options for keeping the airway open during sleep. | | - When asked to refrain from speaking out, Albert Einstein stood his ground, writing in a reply to a colleague, "I do not regret one word of what I have said." If alive today, Einstein likely would urge the Trump administration to strive for morality in its actions, writes Alexander Soifer, a professor of mathematics and European cinema at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "Warping science to conform to one's politics will not change reality and will only ruin the nation that embarks on this folly," Soifer adds. | 4 min read
| | The "fish stories" in today's newsletter reminded me of a morning bicycle ride in 2015 or so, when the water view from a local drawbridge in the Bronx compelled my spouse and me to hop off our bikes and observe the Hutchinson River's surface in awe. It looked something like this, a video shot, aptly enough, near the American Littoral Society's Northeast Chapter office. A local identified the fish as "bunker," aka menhaden. Long used as baitfish, menhaden populations have been affected by the popularity of omega-3 supplements. The legacy import of these fish is such that Scientific American's menhaden coverage dates back to at least 1870. | | We always like to hear from you. Please send your thoughts and fish stories to us at: newsletters@sciam.com. Thanks for reading! —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | | |
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