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Legends about elephant graveyards have long endured without any scientific proof. But when five Asian elephant calves were found buried in Bengal, India, researchers wondered whether this was a sign of an intentional death ritual.
It’s possible that the calves fell into irrigation trenches, and that adult elephants trampled soil down during efforts to save them. But as animal psychology experts Lucy Bates and Leanne Proops at the University of Portsmouth point out, there are numerous studies that do show animals such as rats, crows, orcas and even ants react to death in various ways. As they say, “Burials are intriguing because of what they suggest about the minds of those doing the
burying.”
In another animal mystery, tapeworm larvae have been found in a 52-year-old man’s brain. These parasites can infect the gut after eating undercooked infected pork that contains tapeworm cysts. Infection biologist John Worthington at Lancaster University speculates on how they literally got inside his head.
Something that’s supposed to go in the brain is the technology made by Elon Musk’s company Neuralink. It hopes to enable people to control computers just by thinking. But what would happen if we all used these implants to join together in a collective “internet of minds”? I’ve got a mind to avoid this latest brainwave.
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Anna Turns
Senior Environment Editor
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A recent study by Indian scientists outlined cases of elephant burials.
worradirek/Shutterstock
Lucy A. Bates, University of Portsmouth; Leanne Proops, University of Portsmouth
Recent reports of burials of elephant calves are intriguing but it’s impossible to confirm that this was intentional.
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Rattiya Thongdumhyu/Shutterstock
John Worthington, Lancaster University
A man from Florida was found to have tapeworm cysts in his brain.
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Andrus Ciprian / Shutterstock
Simon Marvin, University of Sheffield; Allan McCay, University of Sydney
Could the technology move beyond medical applications and into wide use?
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Politics + Society
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Abigail Taylor, University of Birmingham; Anne Green, University of Birmingham; Hannes Read, University of Birmingham
English councils have neither the ongoing funding or the staffing needed to effectively deliver on the government’s economic development promises.
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Chris Allen, University of Leicester
Gove and Rishi Sunak trailed the change as a response to Gaza protests – but this definition has nothing to do with them.
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Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham
While Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield have been mixed, its operations in Crimea and the Black Sea have been rather more successful.
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Toby James, University of East Anglia; Holly Ann Garnett, Royal Military College of Canada
We are living in an era of democratic backsliding. It is becoming increasingly vital to improve the quality of elections.
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Arts + Culture
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Freya Gowrley, University of Bristol
Collecting shells was a common past time in Enlightenment Britain, when elite women were becoming increasingly interested in science.
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Cities
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Torran Semple, University of Nottingham; John Harvey, University of Nottingham
The top 40% most energy efficient homes aren’t counted as being in fuel poverty, no matter what their bills or income are.
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Steve Simmons, University of Hull
Dubbed Yorkshire’s Atlantis, Ravenser Odd has been largely forgotten, despite its importance in the 13th century. That’s because it was swallowed by the sea.
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Environment
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Jasmin Kirkbride, University of East Anglia; Paul Chambers, University of Bristol
Haiku poetry chart flowers appearing earlier and species retreating to the margins, marking climate change.
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Health
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Conor Meehan, Nottingham Trent University
R intestinalis is one of the gut’s primary producers of butyrate – a source of energy for many of the gut’s cells.
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Katie Harron, UCL
Children are bearing the brunt of austerity. From obesity to infant mortality, child health is affected by sustained under-investment. What can be done to reverse the decline?
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Science + Technology
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Philip Goff, Durham University
What if there’s no experiment to work out which theory of consciousness is correct?
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