Human language allows an infinite generation of meaning by combining phonemes into words and words into sentences. This contrasts with the very few meaningful combinations reported in animals, leaving the mystery of human language evolution unresolved. Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and for Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Center Marc Jeannerod (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and Neuroscience Research Center (CNRS/Inserm/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) in Lyon, France, recorded thousands of vocalisations from wild chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, and investigated the rules by which meanings are modified when calls are combined into two-call combinations. They identified four mechanisms by which chimpanzees modify meanings in two-call combinations that mirror principles in language. These include compositional structure, idiom-like meaning generation, and ordering effects on meaning, a cornerstone of syntax. These findings challenge the notion that complex combinatorial communication is uniquely human, and bring us a step closer to understanding the origins of our own linguistic capacities.

New research from a team of cognitive scientists and evolutionary biologists finds that chimpanzees drum rhythmically, using regular spacing between drum hits. Their results, publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 9, show that eastern and western chimpanzees—two distinct subspecies—drum with distinguishable rhythms. The researchers say these findings suggest that the building blocks of human musicality arose in a common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.

Wasp mothers have stunning brainpower when it comes to feeding their young, new research shows.

The marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis feeds on oil, multiplying rapidly in the wake of oil spills, and thereby accelerating the elimination of the pollution, in many cases. It does this by producing an “organic dishwashing liquid” which it uses to attach itself to oil droplets. Researchers from the University of Bonn, RWTH Aachen University, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and research center Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered the mechanism by which this “organic dishwashing liquid” is synthesized. Published in the prominent international journal Nature Chemical Biology, the research findings could allow the breeding of more efficient strains of oil-degrading bacteria.

In the absence of air, microorganisms produce hydrogen using an enzyme called [FeFe]-hydrogenase, one of the most efficient hydrogen-producing biocatalysts known and a promising tool for green hydrogen energy. However, these enzymes are rapidly destroyed when exposed to air, which has so far limited their industrial use. Joint efforts led by scientists from the Photobiotechnology group and the Center for Theoretical Chemistry at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, isolated a new type of oxygen-stable [FeFe]-hydrogenase and revealed its “tricks” for this oxygen-stability. The results are published in “Journal of American Chemical Society” on April 23, 2025.

This study reports two cryo-EM structures of the Nipah virus (NiV) polymerase L-P complex in its full-length and truncated forms. These structures elucidate the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and polyribonucleotidyl transferase (PRNTase) domains of the L protein, as well as the tetrameric P protein bundle bound to the L-RdRp. This work establishes a foundational framework for understanding the NiV polymerase mechanism and provides critical insights for the rational design of antiviral therapeutics targeting the polymerase complex  

In a new study, researchers at the University of Würzburg are investigating the interaction of major global change drivers on insects.