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Apes think far more like humans than previously believed, study finds

Kinds of understanding that were thought to exist only in humans might also be shared by apes, according to new research.

It's long been known by humanity that the way we see the world and what it's actually like are different things. But that knowledge - that a person might think things about reality that aren't true - was thought to be held only by us, and to be a key part of the kinds of advanced consciousness that humans have.

New research with chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans, however, suggests that our distant relatives might be able to know the same thing. Apes can tell if you're making a mistake, it has found. That puts it on the same level of cognitive development as a human child. We tend to develop the kind of awareness that someone is wrong in early childhood, around the age of five.

When we do, we are on our way to developing the ability to fully comprehend what other people are thinking and feeling. Scientists call that idea Theory of Mind, and the development of it is one of the things previously thought to belong only to humans. Some humans do lack the ability to infer things about other people's thoughts and feelings, but that tends to be an early sign of autism.

"This cognitive ability is at the heart of so many human social skills," said Christopher Krupenye of Duke, who led the study along with comparative psychologist Fumihiro Kano of Kyoto University.

Having that ability allows us to get along with other people, help them out and figure our way around the world. They can be used negatively, too, to trick people into thinking things that aren't the case.

And it was that skill for trickery that allowed scientists to test what apes know about what others are thinking. In the study, scientists showed the apes two short videos. In one, a person in a King Kong suit hides himself in one of two haystacks while a man watches. The man then leaves through a door, and the person in the King Kong suit runs away while he can't see. The man then comes back in through the door and tries to find King Kong. In the other video, the man returns to the scene after to find a stone that he saw being hidden by King Kong. But while the man was away, King Kong has taken the stone out of the box and left.

The scientists then watched the movement of the apes eyes while they were watching each of the videos. By doing so, they were able to make some approximation of what they were thinking. If the apes pass they test, they'll be able to tell that when the man comes back he will still want to look for the stone in the place where he last saw it - even though the apes have seen it being stolen and taken somewhere else. That requires the kind of awareness thought to belong only to humans, because it needs them to be able to tell that the man thinks something about the world that isn't actually the case.

And in both of the tests, the ape looked for longest at the place where the man last saw the object. That led the scientists to conclude that they knew the man would think it was still there, even if it wasn't.
The result of the test - referred to as the "false belief test" - were similar to those found in humans that are under the age of two.
"This is the first time that any nonhuman animals have passed a version of the false belief test," Krupenye said. "If future experiments confirm these findings, they could lead scientists to rethink how deeply apes understand each other."

The research was conducted by scientist at Duke University, Kyoto University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. It will be published this week in the journal Science.

---------------------------------------------The Independent -----------------------------------------------------              

Changing the course of the planet

At Kigali, India has once again demonstrated willingness to be part of a multilateral climate deal while being able to secure a differentiated outcome for itself

After seven years of negotiations, on October 15, 197 countries reached a historic agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, to amend the Montreal Protocol and phase down hydrofluorocarbons. HFCs are refrigerant gases used for commercial, residential and automotive purposes (and in other applications) but are hundreds to thousands of times more potent that carbon dioxide. They were meant to replace HCFCs in order to protect the ozone layer but their global warming potential (GWP) has increasingly become a matter of concern in climate negotiations. 


The Kigali Amendment is one that could avoid global warming by up to 0.5° C. What did India gain? What should India do?

The Kigali Amendment is not as ambitious or as flexible as desired. Earlier proposals from North America, Europe and Small Island States had demanded a 2021 freeze date for HFCs for all countries. India wanted a 2031 freeze date. Eventually, developed countries agreed to an earlier baseline (2011-13) and freeze year (2019). For most developing countries (including China), the baseline was set at 2020-22 with 2024 as the year to cap HFC use. But India and a few other developing countries got a later baseline (2024-26) with HFCs freezing only in 2028. By not satisfying all the demands of all the countries, the Kigali Amendment signals a good compromise. But before any blame is attributed (or credit claimed), it is important to understand why India demanded differentiated treatment.

Why latitude for India

India and China are the only developing countries that manufacture HFCs. But China’s output is much bigger given its significantly larger share of the global air conditioner market. Even in 2050, India’s HFC emissions under business as usual would have been 7 per cent of the world total against China’s 31 per cent. Moreover, according to analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), India’s A/C market and HFC consumption picks up only after 2025. So, differentiation with China, which will witness rapid emissions during 2015-2030 (and has to act sooner), was warranted. The deal accounts for differences in current consumption, future growth and overall income levels.

Action prior to 2028 would have imposed additional costs of currently much more expensive alternative refrigerants. In the residential sector, the only viable alternative is propane (R290). The other alternative is R32, although it too has a relatively high GWP of 675. Hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) blends remain expensive. HFO1234yf (an alternative for mobile air conditioning) is anywhere between four and 10 times more expensive than the current gas in use. HFO1234ze, which can be used in some commercial applications, is cheaper but for other types of commercial A/Cs there are no viable alternatives.

The cost burden is not merely of alternative refrigerants but includes the one-time cost of product redesign, servicing equipment, training of servicing personnel, and per unit equipment costs. In the lead-up to the Kigali meeting, a $53-million philanthropic initiative was launched for energy efficiency measures in developing countries as a complement to shifting to HFC alternatives. While welcome, the actual costs of transition would be much higher. A CEEW-International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis study found that for India, economy-wide costs of an HFC phase-down could be €12 billion (sum of undiscounted costs, 2015 prices) under the original Indian proposal and €34 billion under the North American proposal between 2015 and 2050. India wanted extra time until more information became available.

The agreed decision requires the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund to cover incremental costs related to production, consumption, servicing and patents. But it is unclear how much of the total costs will get covered until the guidance document on calculating costs is prepared.

Another concern for India was access to technology. Many alternative gases are not manufactured in India currently, although firms are moving in that direction. Ideally, if more (patent-free) alternatives emerged, and their prices fell rapidly, India should be prepared to voluntarily begin a phase-down even earlier, despite the later date it has secured in the negotiations.

The other aspect of technology is the need to test alternatives under India’s high ambient temperature conditions. Testing for some chemicals has already begun but further verification was necessary before India could firmly commit. This is one reason why, in September, India announced a domestic, collaborative R&D programme to develop next-generation, sustainable refrigerants.

Gains from Kigali

Overall, India’s primary gain is that it has once again demonstrated willingness to be part of a multilateral climate deal while being able to secure a differentiated outcome for itself. The deal allows India’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) sector to grow while giving time to refrigerant manufacturers to shift to alternatives. Second, a review of technological options is also envisaged so that India is not left stranded in 2028. Third, despite the three baselines, the bulk of global HFC emissions starts getting phased down earlier, delivering a massive gain for the fight against climate change. Fourth, the deal is legally binding, and failure to act could invite non-compliance proceedings, making it a more effective deal than the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

It is important to recognise how research, analytics and consultations can help to move the needle and change the course of the planet. Until two years ago, India was unwilling to even negotiate HFC phase-down under the Montreal Protocol. Extensive research within India combined with several rounds of consultations between government, industry and civil society helped to prepare the ground for a more informed and proactive approach to the negotiations. The narrative of the global HFC negotiations also shifted, from merely ambition to include economy-wide costs, differentiation, and high growth rates. Rather than rest on negotiated laurels, Indian industry now has to recognise the shifts in global markets, invest in technology and nudge consumer behaviour towards more efficient and less damaging refrigerants. The international result is welcome; attention now shifts to domestic action.

Arunabha Ghosh is CEO and Vaibhav Chaturvedi is Research Fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water

European Space Agency says Mars probe may have exploded

BERLIN: Europe's experimental Mars probe hit the right spot — but at the wrong speed— likely ending up in a fiery ball of rocket fuel when it struck the surface at high speed,

scientists said on Friday.

Pictures taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a black spot in the area where the Schiaparelli lander was meant to touch down Wednesday, the European Space Agency said. The images end two days of speculation following the probe's unexpected radio silence 50 seconds before the planned landing.

Schiaparelli was meant to test technology for a more ambitious European Mars landing in 2020, and scientists say the data it sent back before going silent will prove highly useful for that mission. ESA also stressed that Schiaparelli's mother ship was successfully placed into orbit Wednesday and will begin analyzing the Martian atmosphere in search for evidence of life.

Still, the crash-landing is a painful reminder of how hard it is to put a spacecraft on the surface of the red planet. Europe's Beagle 2 probe reached the surface in 2003 but failed to deploy properly. Only NASA has repeatedly succeeded in landing several robotic vehicles on Mars, including the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers.

ESA said that, according to what its scientists have been able to piece together so far, Schiaparelli suffered problems during the last 50 seconds of its descent through the harsh Martian atmosphere.

Instead of achieving a soft landing it probably plummeted the last 2-4 kilometers (1.4-2.4 miles) onto the surface, therefore impacting at a considerable speed, greater than 300 kilometers (186 miles) per hour. 

The pictures taken by NASA suggest that the probe's thrusters — which were meant to slow its final descent — failed, causing it to hit the surface with almost fully loaded tanks of rocket fuel and explode on impact.
While Schiaparelli was able to beam back some 600 megabytes of data before the crash, scientists won't get any of the close-up photos the probe took during its descent. Those were meant to be transmitted after the landing.

-----------------------------------------------AP- TOI-------------------------------------------

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