Using 27 years of detailed observations of spotted hyena social interactions, researchers uncovered a pattern of social network inheritance between mothers and offspring. The findings shed light on how relationships are formed and maintained and have implications for social structure, rank, and survival.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Hyenas Inherit Their Moms’ Social Connections.

The novel coronavirus is a new kind of enemy. Now, the United States Army has added a cutting-edge tool to its arsenal to better understand this threat: “organs-on-chips” that recapitulate the microarchitecture and function of living human lungs. Army scientists are conducting research with the Lung-Chips to observe intracellular interactions and gain insight into the role of proteins within human lung cells exposed to the virus.

Read the story at IEEE Pulse: Fighting COVID-19 With Lung-Chips.

By using drones to film from above, scientists from the University of Exeter and the Center for Whale Research observed details of killer whales’ social lives as never before. The research not only provides insights into the importance of these animals’ relationships but also has conservation implications.

Read the whole story at my Animal Minds blog: Drone Footage Reveals Killer Whales’ Secret Social Lives.

In recent years, psychologists and neuroscientists have begun to investigate how magic effects — tricks such as sleight-of-hand, illusion, and misdirection — exploit quirks of attention and perception in humans. With a new experiment with Eurasian jays, researchers are now expanding their focus to include other species’ reactions to magic tricks. What can the results tell us about how other animals perceive their worlds?

Read the story at my Animal Minds blog: What Can Magic Tricks Reveal About Animal Minds?

How can we assess consciousness in nonverbal animals? A team of philosophers, biologists, and psychologists suggest that failing a conditioning test when distracted could be an indication of awareness of the "now."

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: A Test for Animal Consciousness.