An illuminated swell shark egg and a SpaceX launch are among the month’s most striking science shots. Plus, a ‘teen T. rex ’ is actually a totally different dinosaur and chatbots trained on social-media junk get ‘brain rot’.
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Credit: Ralph Pace/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
This serene shot of an egg case of a swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) tethered to the base of a giant kelp won in the Underwater category of the National History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. In the waters of Monterey Bay, California, photographer Ralph Pace lit the egg case from behind to reveal the embryo within. The decline of kelp forests in the bay put the population of swell sharks at risk, as the species relies on the plant to lay their eggs.
See more of the month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
Nature | Leisurely scroll
A fossil once assumed to be of a young Tyrannosaurus rex is in fact that of a fully grown adult of a different species altogether. The species, christened Nanotyrannus, is about half the length and one-tenth of the body mass of its larger cousin. The specimen also has distinct physical features such as longer arms and sharper, less curved teeth than T. rex. The classification of Nanotyrannus is a “mic drop”, says palaeontologist Steve Brusatte. “And that necessitates a fundamental reassessment of tyrannosaur classification and evolution.”
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Nature paper
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots trained on ‘brain rot’ content — vapid social media posts that are the equivalent of mental junk food — are worse at generating accurate information. Researchers found that chatbots given a diet of popular and sensationalist Twitter/X posts skipped steps in their reasoning process (or didn’t use reasoning at all), spat out wrong answers and demonstrated ‘dark traits’ such as psychopathy and increased levels of narcissism.
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