Researchers at Nationwide Children’s recently published the largest U.S. study to date of pediatric patients with following COVID-19 infection. The authors note the persistence of symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue and highlight at least three clinical phenotypes to help guide further diagnosis and treatment of these patients.

Read the whole story here: Long-Term Symptoms Following COVID-19 Infection in Children.

My blog post on dogs that are exceptionally gifted at learning words has been adapted for the September issue of Psychology Today! It appears as part of a special collection about animal communication.

Check it out here: In Search of the Genius Dog.

Researchers coin the term “social medication” to describe social anointing in capuchin monkeys. The behavior, in which the animals vigorously rub smelly substances into their own fur and onto the bodies of others, appears to have both medicinal and social functions.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Why Do Monkeys Rub Themselves, and Others, with Onions?

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even city rats do it. I’m talking about pollination, of course. A new study shows that city rats eat the feijoa plant’s flowers and may end up pollinating the plants along the way.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Rats are Pollinators, Too.

For females of many species, choosing a mate is a weighty decision. You want your offspring to inherit the best possible genes. But how do you judge the genetic quality of a potential mate? In a new paper, researchers tested female preference for symmetric males in fruit flies— with a few key innovations.

Read the whole story at The Scientist: The Sex Appeal of Symmetric Songs.