The Top Science News

T-rex lips; the sounds stressed-out plants make; how elephants are like humans; and more. Plus: exercise is great for our brains, too, right? [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( Newsletter brought to you by: April 4, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question with health neuroscientist [Luis Ciria]( [READ NAUTILUS](   DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week   [Theropod Dinosaur Facial Reconstruction and the Importance of Soft Tissues in Paleobiology]( Why T-rex had lips. [Science→](   [Sounds Emitted by Plants Under Stress Are Airborne and Informative]( Plants under duress aren’t quiet about it. [Cell Press→](   [Elephants as an Animal Model for Self-Domestication]( The list of potential self-domesticated species—ones that imposed evolutionary costs on aggression—is very short: Humans, arguably. Bonobos, maybe. Elephants? Don’t be so surprised. [PNAS→](   [Supernatural Explanations Across 114 Societies Are More Common for Natural Than Social Phenomena]( This tracks with our tendency to think things like rain and volcanoes make decisions. [Nature Human Behavior→](   [Light Interacts with Its Past Self in Twist on Double-Slit Experiment]( Researchers made slits in time, rather than in space. [New Scientist→](   [U.S. Regulators Rejected Elon Musk’s Bid to Test Brain Chips in Humans, Citing Safety Risks]( “He can’t appreciate that this is not a car. This is a person’s brain. This is not a toy.” [Reuters→](   [Why Are Americans Dying So Young?]( One in 25 American five-year-olds today won’t live to see 40. [Financial Times→](   [A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate Trip]( After his Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, Roland Griffiths took LSD and starting talking to his tumors. [The New York Times Magazine→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Master and Practice AI Concepts in Minutes? That’s Brilliant]( The world is increasingly using AI in everyday life, creating award-winning art, drafting academic papers, and even improving [our moral reasoning](. Level up your skills in math, AI, neural networks, and more with [Brilliant](’s interactive, fun, hands-on lessons. Developed by leading professors and researchers from MIT, Google, and Microsoft, Brilliant’s bite-sized courses allow you to master core concepts in minutes. [Sign up for our 30-day free trial]( and unlock everything Brilliant has to offer. Plus, as a Nautilus reader, you can enjoy a special 20% discount on an annual membership. [Master AI With Brilliant](   [ONE QUESTION]( [Exercise Is Great for Our Brains, Too, Right?]( INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [Luis Ciria](, a neuroscientist at the University of Granada, where he studies how the brain works under physical exertion.   Probably not. At the beginning of our experiments about a decade ago, we believed that this idea, this hypothesis, was straightforward: that exercise must improve your brain because you improve the rest of your body—why not the brain? But after several experiments and reading the literature, we started to think maybe there are some big problems. We started to go deeper, and we realized that the literature is not solid enough to conclude these things. [Read the interview](   Related Nautilus Stories   [NEUROSCIENCE]( [Here’s Where Our Minds Sharpen in Old Age]( Fluid intelligence has several aspects, and aging affects them differently. BY JIM DAVIES [Continue reading →]( [PSYCHOLOGY]( [Scientists Analyzed 24,000 Chess Matches to Understand Cognition]( Chess could perhaps be the ultimate window through which we might see how our mental powers shift during our lives. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →](   More in Health [If Technology Only Had a Heart]( The failure to produce an artificial heart is a testament to the wizardry of nature. BY SIAN E. HARDING [Continue reading →]( [Communication Breakdown in the Brain]( Inside the research to get neurons back in a healthy conversation with one another. BY SARA GOUDARZI [Continue reading →](   P.S. How much of a Machiavellian you are significantly affects your academic major of choice, according to a [new study](. The trait captures our desire for power, status, and dominance. Diana Fleischman argued that Machiavellian thinking reaches deep into our evolutionary past: After all, one of the major selection pressures on humans was to outwit each other, and figuring out other minds is one of the most complicated things that minds can do—[the dark side of smart](.   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Plants Are Perceptive]( Issue 48 of [Nautilus]( features “[What Plants Are Saying About Us](.” Amanda Gefter discovers that her houseplants are endowed with feelings and memories, shifting her thoughts on human perception. Also: We are all programmed to die; the void in the universe is alive; and more. [Get Nautilus in Print](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.