The amazing diversity of life on our planet is a testament to the multitude of biological solutions that have evolved to secure and maintain energy. However, despite its central role in biology, measuring energy consumption remains a challenging task. One major drain for many animals is movement, making it an ideal lens through which to estimate energy usage. While methods exist for measuring animal movement, they are often limited by the physical size of the equipment used.

In a groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers from the Marine Biophysics Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have developed an innovative method for measuring energy usage during movement using video and 3D-tracking via deep learning. This new approach opens up the possibility of studying energy consumption in animals that were previously inaccessible due to the reliance on wearable equipment.

The current state-of-the-art method, Dynamic Body Acceleration (DBA), involves measuring oxygen consumption while an animal performs a specific behavior in a lab setting. However, this method has limitations when applied in the wild, where reliably measuring oxygen consumption is impossible. To overcome these challenges, researchers have used physical accelerometers that weigh at least ten times less than the animal, but this still rules out the study of many small species.

The OIST researchers’ solution to this problem is elegantly simple: they use two cameras to capture video footage of an animal’s behavior from multiple angles, reconstructing its movement in 3D space. A deep learning neural network is then trained on a few frames of the videos to track the position of body features such as eyes, allowing researchers to subsequently measure the movement-related acceleration.

This new video-based DBA method has opened up possibilities for studying energy consumption in animals that were previously inaccessible, potentially enabling many new research avenues into the breadth of life on our planet. For example, researchers can now investigate the energy expenditure during schooling of small fish, which has long remained mysterious. By accurately measuring energy usage during free-ranging animal behavior, scientists can gain a deeper understanding of the ecology and evolution of various species.

The use of wood in construction has been a staple for millennia, from the majestic Japanese cypress to the sturdy ponderosa pine. Despite its environmental benefits, wood’s susceptibility to damage from sunlight and moisture often pushed it aside in favor of steel and concrete. However, with the growing interest in sustainable building practices, wood is making a comeback.

To overcome the challenges associated with wooden structures, researchers at Kyoto University have developed a groundbreaking method for detecting early signs of coating deterioration. This simple yet effective approach combines mid-infrared spectroscopy with machine learning to predict the extent of degradation before it becomes visible.

The team’s innovative technique uses partial least square regression and genetic algorithms to identify subtle chemical changes in wood coatings. These slight alterations, often too small to detect visually, can be accurately captured by infrared spectroscopy and predicted by the model. This enables researchers to diagnose early coating deterioration with high accuracy, reducing the need for costly visual inspections and preventing further decay.

By integrating chemistry and data-driven modeling techniques, this research demonstrates how traditional craftsmanship and modern data science can work together to support smarter maintenance of sustainable buildings. As Teramoto notes, “We hope this technology will help bridge the gap between traditional craftsmanship and modern data science.”

The researchers are now conducting tests on real wooden buildings, with plans to improve their model for application in new paint and coating product development. Beyond wood, this method may also be applied to materials like concrete or metal, unlocking new possibilities for diagnosing early material failure and improving sustainability across various industries.

The way we respond to death can vary greatly, even among humans. A recent study by UCL anthropologists has revealed that primate mothers, specifically macaques, exhibit different bereavement responses compared to humans. This groundbreaking research provides valuable insights into the complex and intriguing field of evolutionary thanatology – the study of death, bereavement, and grief across different species.

Published in Biology Letters, the researchers found that bereaved macaque mothers showed a short period of physical restlessness after their infant’s death, but did not display typical human signs of grief like lethargy and appetite loss. In fact, they spent less time resting than non-bereaved females during the first two weeks following their infants’ deaths.

The researchers suggest that this initial restlessness might represent an initial period of “protest” among the bereaved macaque mothers, similar to what is observed in studies on mother-infant separation in primates. However, unlike humans, this “protest” phase was not followed by an extended period of despair or other behavioral markers of grief commonly associated with human behavior.

This study is significant because it represents the first systematic investigation into whether primate mothers display similar behavioral responses to death as seen in human grief. The researchers observed the behavior of 22 macaque mothers at the Caribbean Primate Research Center on Cayo Santiago, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Half of the macaques observed (11) had recently lost an infant (on average 16 days prior), while the other non-bereaved half acted as a control group.

Behavioral observations were categorized into resting, feeding, grooming, and displacement behaviors, which were recorded by the researchers over a 16-day period using smartphones with CyberTracker software. The results show that there was no difference in time spent foraging, grooming, or doing displacement behaviors among bereaved macaques compared to non-bereaved ones.

This study provides a fascinating contribution to the emerging field of evolutionary thanatology and raises important questions about whether grief is a uniquely human experience. As co-author Dr Alecia Carter notes, “Following the loss of an infant, we had expected the macaque mothers to spend more time resting, as is common among bereaved humans. What we actually observed was the opposite.”

Lead author MSc student Emily Johnson adds, “Death is an inevitable part of life and how we respond to death can vary greatly, even among humans. We wanted to explore how the behavioral response to death, the experience of grief, differs between primates and humans.”