Science Daily

• Your brain starts making social decisions before you do

  Researchers found that social behavior begins in the brain before it becomes visible as movement. In zebrafish, a coordinated pattern of activity spread across the brain several seconds before the animals approached another fish. A higher brain region called the pallium played a key role, and fish with stronger neural signals were generally more social.

• Your kitchen sponge is releasing microplastics every time you wash dishes

  Kitchen sponges release microplastics as they wear down during everyday use, with some sponge types shedding far more than others. Researchers estimated that millions of households could collectively release hundreds of tons of microplastics annually.

• New hydrogen breakthrough turns waste heat into clean fuel

  A breakthrough hydrogen-production method could make clean fuel far cheaper and easier to generate. Researchers at the University of Birmingham developed a perovskite-based catalyst that splits water into hydrogen at much lower temperatures than existing technologies, potentially allowing factories, steel plants, cement works, and renewable energy sites to turn waste heat into valuable hydrogen.

• Why Sweden’s wolverine conservation success story is unraveling

  A world-famous conservation program that helped save Sweden’s endangered wolverines is now struggling as funding stagnates and local trust erodes. Researchers say the decline offers a cautionary lesson: protecting wildlife requires long-term commitment, not just early success.

• Chimpanzees and bonobos have human-like friend circles, study finds

  Great apes appear to build friendships much like humans do. By studying grooming behavior, researchers discovered that chimpanzees and bonobos form close inner circles along with wider networks of weaker social connections. Chimpanzees focus on a few trusted partners and become more selective with age, while bonobos maintain a more egalitarian social style.