Ever suddenly realize you had picked up certain words or ways of speaking from a close friend? It turns out that humans are far from the only animals who copy the sounds of their closest companions — a new study shows that vampire bats do, too. Research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that female vampire bats match the calls of those closest to them as they forge new friendships.

A web-based method developed by a Stanford-led team was shown to mitigate political polarization on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by nudging antidemocratic and extremely negative partisan posts lower in a user’s feed. The tool, which is independent of the platform, has the potential to give users more say over what they see on social media.

Providing year-round access to RSV immunization would minimize the risk of large seasonal outbreaks across the nation, including in both urban and rural areas. That’s according to a new study, published in Science Advances and led by Brown University researchers, which examined differences in viral spread in areas with different population density.