What Does a Fish Know?

Plus: the top news this week—and some Nautilus stories related to the One Question. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( October 25, 2022   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question and related Nautilus stories [READ NAUTILUS](   DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week   [Experimental Indications of Non-Classical Brain Functions]( Our ability to think, and to be consciously aware of our surroundings, may rely on quantum computations. [Journal of Physics Communications→](   [First Known Family of Neanderthals Found in Russian Cave]( Scientists were able to tell apart a Neanderthal father from his teenage daughter “from bone fragments,” Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo said. [The New York Times→](   [Your Smartphone Could Be Used to Estimate Your Risk of Dying]( How likely you are to stay alive within the next five years can be deciphered from motion data during a 6-minute walk. [New Scientist→](   [This 6,000-Pound Sunfish Is the Largest Bony Fish on Record]( Scientists “almost couldn’t believe their eyes.” [Smithsonian Magazine→](   NASA Announces 16 People Who Will Study UFOs to See What's Natural—and What Isn't]( No evidence exists tying aerial phenomena to aliens, according to NASA, but the researchers will examine the odd observations on record. [Phys.org→](   First Known Map of Night Sky Found Hidden in Medieval Parchment]( “This star catalog”—authored by Hipparchus in 129 BC—“that has been hovering in the literature as an almost hypothetical thing has become very concrete,” said Mathieu Ossendrijver, a historian of astronomy at the Free University of Berlin. [Nature→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [An Out-of-the-Box Story About Sustainability]( Enjoy this limited-edition, kid-friendly toilet paper box from [Reel Paper](. The Little Lemur Box comes with a set of 100% bamboo toilet paper and a storybook adventure following Banji the Bamboo Lemur and his friends on a journey into the rainforest for [the perfect sustainable toilet paper](—bamboo. [Learn More](   [ONE QUESTION]( [What Does a Fish Know?]( INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [Jonathan Balcomb]([e](, a biologist who studies animal behavior, and the author of four popular science books on the inner lives of animals, including Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, and What a Fish Knows, a New York Times bestseller.   Fish have great memories. They have great individual recognition skills. They have soulmates, individuals who they consort with and know and presume to care about. They show artistic creativity in nest building. They show culture. They fall for the same optical illusions we fall for. You can train a fish, for instance, to poke their nose against the larger of two circles when they’re presented with two circles. I give them a little food reward for that and then present them with the [Ebbinghaus illusion](, which is two identical circles with dots around them with different sizes. It’s a strong optical illusion in which one of those identical circles looks bigger than the other, and these fishes of various species have been tested in this and other optical illusions. [Read the interview](   Related Nautilus Stories   [ZOOLOGY]( [Fish Can Be Smarter Than Primates]( BY JONATHAN BALCOMBE Intelligence is shaped by the survival requirements that an animal must face during its everyday life, according to cognitive ecology. [Continue reading →]( [ENVIRONMENT]( [It’s Time to Redefine What Sustainable Fishing Means]( BY ERICA CIRINO Sarah Dolman heard the porpoise’s cries not in the waters where the animal’s voice was actually recorded, but on the sound system at a marine mammal conference held in late 2019. [Continue reading →]( [GENETICS]( [Extra DNA May Make Unlikely Hybrid Fish Possible]( BY CHRISTIE WILCOX Their mothers were Russian sturgeons—large carnivores with creamy bellies, short, rounded snouts, and green, dragonlike scales. [Continue reading →]( [Liberating Ocean Data]( Ready to contribute to ocean conservation? The World Economic Forum's [UpLink Ocean and Friends of Ocean Action]( wants your ideas to scaling the ocean data for a sustainable ocean future. Submit your proposal by November 13, 2022, and the winner will be announced at the WEF’s Annual Meet in Davos next year. [Submit Your Solution]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [This Man Wants Magic to Be a Branch of Psychology]( BY KEVIN FERGUSON In his rather untidy office at Goldsmiths, University of London, the cheerful and vaguely rumpled Gustav Kuhn grabs what looks like a wire-frame pyramid off of an otherwise empty shelf. [Continue reading →]( [NEUROSCIENCE]( [How Japanese Floating Illusions Reverse-Engineer What We See]( BY GEORGE MUSSER If you don’t know how something works, break it. [Continue reading →](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   SHOP THE COLLECTION [An Enhanced Way to Experience Nautilus]( Nautilus is proud to announce that we recently integrated our store and websites. With this integration, you can [purchase from the store]( and explore the latest Nautilus content with just one login. To celebrate, we’re offering 15% off everything in the store until November 7th with coupon code NEWSTORE. [Shop The Nautilus Collection]( for remarkable artwork that explores the connections between art and science. [Claim Your Discount](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2022 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. 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