Researchers at Swansea University have made an intriguing discovery about the behavior of wild chacma baboons on South Africa’s Cape Peninsula. By using high-resolution GPS tracking, they found that these intelligent primates walk in lines not for safety or strategy, but simply to stay close to their friends.

For a long time, scientists believed that baboons structured their travel patterns, known as “progressions,” to reduce risk and optimize access to food and water. However, the new study published in Behavioral Ecology reveals that this behavior is actually driven by social bonds rather than survival strategies.

The researchers analyzed 78 travel progressions over 36 days and found that the order in which individual baboons traveled was not random. They tested four potential explanations for this phenomenon, including strategic positioning to avoid danger or gain access to resources. However, their findings show that the consistent order of baboon movement patterns is solely driven by social relationships.

According to Dr. Andrew King, Associate Professor at Swansea University, “The baboons’ consistent order isn’t about avoiding danger like we see in prey animals or for better access to food or water. Instead, it’s driven by who they’re socially bonded with. They simply move with their friends, and this produces a consistent order.”
This discovery introduces the concept of a “social spandrel.” In biology, a spandrel refers to a trait that arises not because it was directly selected for but as a side effect of something else. The researchers found that the consistent travel patterns among baboons emerge naturally from their social affiliations with each other and not as an evolved strategy for safety or success.

The study highlights the importance of strong social bonds in baboon society, which are linked to longer lives and greater reproductive success. However, this research also shows that these bonds can lead to unintended consequences, such as consistent travel patterns, which serve no specific purpose but rather as a by-product of those relationships. The findings have implications for our understanding of collective animal behavior and the potential for social spandrels in other species.

Standardizing Psychedelic Research: A Breakthrough in Understanding the True Potential of Mind-Altering Drugs

The use of psychedelics as potential treatments for mental health disorders has gained significant traction in recent years. However, a critical flaw in psychedelic clinical trials has hindered their progress – the failure to properly account for how a person’s mindset and surroundings influence the effects of these substances.

A group of international researchers from McGill University, Imperial College London, and the University of Exeter have tackled this issue by developing a set of guidelines to standardize psychedelic clinical trials. The Reporting of Setting in Psychedelic Clinical Trials (ReSPCT) guidelines are a 30-item checklist that represents the first global agreement on which psychosocial factors have the greatest impact on a psychedelic experience.

“For decades, we’ve known that psychedelics don’t work in isolation,” said co-lead author Chloé Pronovost-Morgan. “The person’s mindset, the therapy room, even the music playing all influence outcomes.” This approach challenges the traditional way psychoactive drugs are typically studied, where scientists try to control or eliminate outside variables to isolate a drug’s effects.

These guidelines recognize that context is crucial and should be studied directly. By offering a standard framework for evaluating and reporting these variables, the ReSPCT guidelines aim to make trial outcomes more consistent and comparable across studies.

Having clear guidelines for contextual considerations is essential to understand the effects of psychedelics and how they work differently from other psychiatric medications,” said co-senior author Leor Roseman. “Our guidelines will also help in replicating results and understanding the true therapeutic potential of psychedelics.”

The lack of standards has had consequences beyond the research lab, Pronovost-Morgan explained. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently rejected MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, citing inconsistent reporting across trials as a key reason for the decision.

“There is immense public interest in psychedelic therapies, particularly for individuals suffering from debilitating mental health conditions like PTSD, depression and anxiety, which have not responded to existing treatments,” said co-senior author Kyle Greenway. “Our guidelines offer a new gold standard for psychedelic research, helping bring these treatments to those who need them most.”

The research team is organizing a three-day workshop in October, funded by McGill’s Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives initiative, where leading experts in psychedelics and neuroscience will discuss how the guidelines can be integrated into research and clinical practice.

The discovery of ipecac alkaloids in two distantly related plant species has shed light on the independent evolution of this complex biosynthetic pathway. Ipecac Carapichea ipecacuanha, a member of the gentian family, and Alangium salviifolium, a sage-leaved alangium from the dogwood family, both produce these medically interesting substances. While earlier studies had identified some enzymes involved in their production, the elucidation of the entire biosynthetic pathway has provided valuable insights into the evolutionary history of this process.

The researchers found that ipecac alkaloids are present throughout all plant tissues of both species but accumulate more heavily in young leaf tissues and underground organs. By comparing tissues with high and low levels of these compounds, genes involved in their synthesis were identified. Further genetic transformation and model plant experiments allowed the stepwise reconstruction of the biosynthetic pathway in both species.

Surprisingly, the first step in this process does not involve an enzyme but occurs spontaneously. The subsequent steps are catalyzed by a unique sugar-cleaving enzyme that has a distinct three-dimensional structure compared to other enzymes performing the same reaction. This enzyme’s unusual nature and spatial separation from its substrate within the cell may have evolved as a defense mechanism against herbivores.

The discovery of this independent evolution of ipecac alkaloid biosynthesis in two distantly related plant species highlights the plant’s ability to develop complex natural products through convergent evolution. The study also provides valuable insights into the potential pharmacological effects of downstream metabolites, such as tubulosin, which have been poorly studied due to their low abundance.

In further research, the final steps of the biosynthesis are to be elucidated, providing a more complete understanding of this complex metabolic pathway. This knowledge could ultimately lead to the production of these substances in larger quantities, allowing for more detailed investigations into their pharmacological activities.