Marmosets Practice Crying in Womb, New Study Suggests

Monkeys eat fruit during the annual Monkey Festival which resumed after a two-year gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in Lopburi province, Thailand, November 28, 2021. REUTERS/Jiraporn Kuhakan

Cairo: Hazem Badr

09:21-29 July 2022 AD ـ 01 Muharram 1444 AH

Cairo: Hazem Badr

09:21-29 July 2022 AD ـ 01 Muharram 1444 AH

Marmosets Practice Crying in Womb, New Study Suggests

Monkeys eat fruit during the annual Monkey Festival which resumed after a two-year gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in Lopburi province, Thailand, November 28, 2021. REUTERS/Jiraporn Kuhakan

Baby marmosets begin practicing the face and mouth movements necessary to call their family for help before they are born, shows a study published in the journal eLife.

This finding may also apply to humans, as ultrasounds in the third trimester of pregnancy have shown developing humans in the womb making crying-like movements.

The first cries and coos of humans and other primates are essential to their survival. In addition to allowing them to call their family members for help, these vocalizations and interactions with their parents and other caregivers lay the groundwork for more complex communication later in life.

"We wanted to know how those very first neonatal vocalizations develop," said lead author Darshana Narayanan, from the Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University.

Narayanan and colleagues conducted ultrasounds two to three times per week in four pregnant marmosets for a total of 14-17 ultrasound sessions per marmoset, starting when the face first became visible on ultrasound and ending the day before birth.

The team used the ultrasound scans to longitudinally track the head, face and mouth movements of the developing marmosets and compared them with the newborn marmosets' movements when they called out.

The team found that the developing marmosets' head and mouth movements coordinated initially, but the mouth movement became distinct over time. Eventually, they became almost indistinguishable from movements made by crying newborn marmosets briefly separated from their mothers within the first 24 hours after birth.

"Our experiments show that marmosets begin practicing the movements needed for important social calls even before they can generate a sound," Narayanan says. She adds that studying these movements further in marmosets may help scientists learn more about the development of social vocalizations in other primates, including humans.

Scientist: Scorching Summer Triggers Record Rockfalls in Alps

This photo shows the very low flow of the Arpenaz Waterfall, in Sallanches, central-eastern France, on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Alex MARTIN / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

17:21-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

17:21-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Scientist: Scorching Summer Triggers Record Rockfalls in Alps

This photo shows the very low flow of the Arpenaz Waterfall, in Sallanches, central-eastern France, on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Alex MARTIN / AFP)

The exceptionally hot summer in the Alps has been marked by a record number of rockfalls, some of them fatal, with "a large majority attributable to the climate crisis", according to scientist Ludovic Ravanel.

This year "will undoubtedly be a record year" both in terms of the frequency of rockfalls and the sheer volume of rock breaking away from the mountains on an almost daily basis, the research director at CNRS, France's national scientific research center, told AFP.

The area around Mont Blanc -- nicknamed the "roof of Europe" -- has been particularly hard hit.

At the end of a summer punctuated by extreme heatwaves, the number of rockfalls recorded in the Mont Blanc massif alone is expected to reach 450, Ravanel said.

"That is an absolutely staggering figure, given that just 10 or 20 years ago, there were only a few dozen," the geomorphologist added.

The previous record stood at 300 and was set in 2022, another year marked by heatwaves.

"A large majority (of the rockfalls) can be attributed to the climate crisis," Ravanel said, noting that rising temperatures are degrading and reducing the permafrost.

For several thousand years, "invisible" ice has been lodged in cracks in the rock, where it "acts as a kind of cement holding the mountains together", he said.

With high temperatures, the ice can melt and rocks break loose, causing rockfalls.

Rockfalls are also caused as glaciers melt, when the stabilizing pressure they exert on rock walls eases as the glaciers "lose thickness", he added.

Temperatures are expected to drop at high altitudes in coming days.

However, it doesn't mean the return of stability, as "even if the surface freezes over again, the enormous amount of heat from the summer of 2026 will continue to penetrate the ground until November, December, or even as late as January", Ravanel said.

"We're expecting the biggest rockfalls to happen this autumn," Ravanel predicted, though they are likely to be less frequent.

The rock destabilization poses risks to mountaineers, and several climbers have died since the start of the summer season.

In July, two Czech tourists were killed in a rockfall on the most commonly used route up Mont Blanc. In August, a 31-year-old man also died in a rockfall in the Mont Blanc massif.

Authorities closed two shelters used to climb Mont Blanc, a precaution also taken in 2022.

But Ravanel doesn't believe access to the high mountains should be completely restricted, describing them as "above all, a place of freedom".

"The mountaineering community regulates itself" and "does not put itself at greater risk during a heatwave than during a cooler summer", he said.

In his view, there is therefore "no surge in accidents" caused by rockfalls.

Rather, the increase in accidents reflects the growing popularity of mountain resorts and villages among holidaymakers, leading to higher visitor numbers overall.

Varieties

Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at Rushcutters Bay following a sail on Sydney Harbour with veterans from the Invictus Australia community, in Sydney, Australia, April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo

London: Asharq Al Awsat

10:03-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

London: Asharq Al Awsat

10:03-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after they stepped down from their royal duties and relocated to the US, a source close to the couple said.

The surprise move comes after the couple spent recent years repeatedly criticizing the royal family and lambasting the British press, saying the tabloids had made their lives hell and they wanted to carve out independent roles for themselves.

The couple, known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were moving with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, from California to Britain for an extended period and the children would begin school there in September, the person close to them said, confirming details that were reported in the media.

King Charles, who welcomed having his youngest son and his family closer, found out about the move on Sunday, British media reports said. Harry and Meghan will not live in a royal residence and will remain non-working royals as agreed with the late Queen Elizabeth when they left in March 2020.

Harry's spokesperson and Buckingham Palace declined to comment, according to Reuters.

Harry married Meghan Markle in a ceremony at ⁠Windsor Castle in 2018, ⁠and it was hoped his union with the former actor would reinvigorate the historic institution for a new generation.

But it was not long before cracks in their relationship with the rest of the royal family began to emerge. Two years later in March 2020, they announced they would step down from official duties and move to the US, saying they wanted to move away from the intense press scrutiny they faced in Britain.

They settled in the wealthy seaside enclave of Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California, with media reports putting the 2020 purchase price of their 16-bedroom home at $14.7 million.

In the following years, Harry, now 41, and Meghan, 45, repeatedly criticized the royal family and the monarchy in ⁠TV interviews, a Netflix documentary series and, most notably, in Harry's memoir "Spare.”

During a 2021 interview the couple gave to Oprah Winfrey, Meghan, whose mother is Black, said an unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin might be. Heir-to-the-throne Prince William, Harry's elder brother, responded by denying that Britain’s royals were racist.

Harry had some particularly barbed comments for his father, Charles, and Prince William, leading to a total breakdown in their relationship.

Harry was also angry the British government changed his security arrangements and said the lack of automatic police protection meant he was unable to bring his children to Britain.

But relations with the king appeared to be thawing in September, and father and son met briefly for the first time in 20 months. Charles was diagnosed with an unspecified type of cancer in 2024. He announced on television last December that he had responded "exceptionally well" to treatment.

Last month, Harry, Meghan and their children visited Britain, and Charles saw his grandchildren for the first time since 2022.

However, while the king welcomed the chance to see more ⁠of the Sussexes, he only became aware ⁠of the couple's plans to return to Britain on Sunday.

While Harry and the king's relationship might have improved, he is still barely on speaking terms with his brother.

British minister Lucy Powell, talking to the BBC on Thursday, said it was good news, adding that she hoped "the reconciliation with the family continues because I think that's good for the country ... to send out that signal.”

Harry and Meghan embarked on several media ventures from their California home, signing multi-million-dollar deals with Spotify for a podcast series and with Netflix for programming including a lifestyle show hosted by Meghan.

The projects produced mixed results. Harry's tell-all book was a bestseller, but their podcast deal ended and Meghan's Netflix show was not renewed for a third season.

In recent months Meghan has published an increasing number of photographs on her Instagram account, showing Harry and their children and their US life, often taken from behind the children to hide their faces.

"I think they didn't achieve the superstar status they wanted," said Dominic Patten, executive editor of Hollywood publication Deadline.com.

They did, however, keep the public interested in their story in a town full of big-name celebrities, Patten said.

"He and Meghan have kept that flame aflutter," Patten said. "If you look at how quickly Hollywood careers can burn out, on that level, by that metric, they've been successful."

Varieties

Australia Races to Shield Little Penguins from H5N1 Bird Flu

This handout photo taken on August 13, 2024 and released by Phillip Island Nature Parks on August 20, 2026 shows tourists watching the "Penguin Parade" at Phillip Island Nature Parks in Victoria. (Photo by Handout / Phillip Island Nature Parks / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

08:50-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

08:50-20 August 2026 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1448 AH

Australia Races to Shield Little Penguins from H5N1 Bird Flu

Australian wildlife workers have launched an unprecedented effort to vaccinate wild populations of little penguins against the highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists a year flock to viewing areas and boardwalks to watch the diminutive sea birds waddle ashore and along the beach in the evenings on the eastern coast's Phillip Island.

The stars of this "penguin parade" are from a wild colony on the island, numbering up to 40,000 seabirds at the height of the breeding season in the southern hemisphere's spring and summer.

It is the world's biggest single colony of little penguins, which have a life span of about six years with habitats in southern Australia -- mostly Tasmania -- and New Zealand.

Also known as fairy penguins, they are the tiniest species of the semi-aquatic sea birds, barely reaching knee height and weighing about the same as a standard bag of sugar.

Now, like the rest of Australia's wild bird population, they face the threat of H5N1, which breached the continental landmass for the first time in June and has since started to spread in local wildlife.

The virus was detected this month in a Phillip Island penguin that had died, the first infection in the colony by a pathogen that has caused severe disease and death in birds worldwide.

In response, wildlife teams started to vaccinate birds in the colony this week, said James Todd, chief biodiversity officer for the state of Victoria in which the island lies.

"This is unprecedented. There has been no vaccination of this scale in a wild population anywhere in the world," Todd said.

The H5N1 vaccination program, which also covers a popular little penguin population at a breakwater in the Melbourne beach suburb of St Kilda, is a challenge, he said.

"Trying to vaccinate wild populations is almost impossible, partly because you need two doses of the vaccine," Todd told AFP.

But wildlife experts are very familiar with the little penguins' burrows at Phillip Island and St Kilda, he said.

The birds, in turn, are accustomed to floodlights for the "penguin parade" tourist attraction, as well as being periodically handled by veterinarian scientists for monitoring of their health.

Vaccination teams aim to inoculate about 5,000 little penguins closest to the visitor areas, the state official said, in a program that is likely to last weeks and months, not days.

Ideally, the H5N1 vaccine should be administered in two doses with a gap of three-to-four weeks, Todd said.

"Given that we're in a bit of a state of urgency here, experts have said that it's okay to even think about you know one to two weeks," he said, though a final decision had yet to be taken.

Vaccination teams can pick up the penguins from their burrows and may try to corral some as they come ashore on the beach, using microchips to track those that have been given a shot, Todd said.

"They're wild animals -- they'll squawk and try to, you know, peck you, and do all that sort of stuff -- but as I said, the team down there are very used to handling these animals," he explained.

"If you and I were doing it, we'd probably drop the thing straight away."

Marmosets Practice Crying in Womb, New Study Suggests

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Scientist: Scorching Summer Triggers Record Rockfalls in Alps

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