Brain Activity Reveals How Well People Adapt Their Behavior to Others
University of Zurich researchers used a rock‑paper‑scissors paradigm with over 550 participants to map brain activity during adaptive mentalization. Functional MRI revealed a distributed network—including the temporoparietal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex—that lights up when participants revise their expectations of an opponent. A computational model linked these neural signatures to individuals' flexibility, correctly predicting adaptation in nearly 90% of cases. The work suggests a neural fingerprint for social cognition that could aid diagnosis and treatment of disorders such as autism and borderline personality disorder.
Team Finds Rare Evidence of 2 Planets Colliding
University of Washington astronomers identified rare evidence of two exoplanets colliding around the star Gaia20ehk, 11,000 light‑years away. The star’s visible light exhibited three dips beginning in 2016 followed by chaotic dimming, while infrared observations spiked, indicating hot dust from...
Why an All-Female Fish Species Is a Scientific ‘Miracle’
University of Missouri researchers have identified gene conversion as the mechanism allowing the all‑female Amazon molly to avoid the genetic decay typical of asexual species. Using long‑read sequencing, they documented differing mutation rates between the two parental genomes and showed...
Team Discovers Brainstem Pathway that Controls Human Hands
Researchers have identified a brainstem‑spinal network that coordinates hand and arm movements, revealing two medulla regions and cervical spinal segments C3‑C4 act as relays between the cortex and hand muscles. Functional MRI in mice and humans showed this pathway is...
