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Monkeys use some of the same basic mental strategies as people do to perceive abstract relationships between shapes, a new study suggests. The findings challenge the idea that humans crossed a sharp evolutionary divide when they learned to recognize geometric properties like symmetry, parallel lines and right angles, the researchers say. "While humans do come up with geometric descriptions that are more abstract than what nonhumans can do, there's still some overlap, some similarity in the kinds of geometric intuitions you see in humans and those of non-primates," study co-author Jessica Cantlon, a professor of developmental neuroscience and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, told Live Science. "So there's a thread of continuity that runs through geometric reasoning between humans and nonhumans."The research, published July 20 in the journal PNAS, adds to a long-standing scientific debate over whether humans possess entirely unique forms of abstract thought or unusually sophisticated versions of abilities found elsewhere in the animal kingdom. "For decades, cognitive scientists have searched for the 'special ingredient' that distinguishes human intelligence from that of other animals," Elizabeth Brannon, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email. "This study provides compelling evidence that, at least for geometric reasoning, the difference between humans and other primates is more quantitative than qualitative."In other words, the study suggested that baboons and macaques don't lack the ability to reason about geometry. Instead, they just aren't as proficient at it as humans, meaning that humans didn't evolve a new unique skill in understanding geometry. A geometric matching gameThe researchers tested eight adult monkeys: four rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and four olive baboons (Papio anubis). The olive baboons participated through the Primate Portal, a touch-screen system installed at Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York. One baboon, Kalamata, was especially enthusiastic."Every day he came to the touch screen," Jialin Li, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University and first author of the study, told Live Science. "He just sat there and worked for two hours, three hours straight, completing thousands of trials. That's just amazing."The macaques participated separately at Carnegie Mellon University, having prior experience with matching tests in other experiments.The researchers then compared the animals' performance with that of 58 U.S. preschoolers ages 3 to 6, and 79 adults from the Tsiman, an Indigenous farmer-forager society in Bolivia whose members received little formal education. A separate experiment in the larger project involving rotating shapes also included 21 U.S. adults. In all of the study's cohorts, the participants played a game known as a match-to-sample task. "[The participants] see a sample shape first," Li said. "For example, it's a square. Then they need to tap the square to make sure that they are looking at it. When they tap it, there will be two shape choices that come up: one on the left and one on the right. They need to choose which shape matches with the sample shape." The researchers made the choice shapes half the area of the sample shape, thus preventing the participants from solving the task by simply matching overall size or pixel count. In another version of the test, they rotated the choice shapes, thereby forcing the participants to identify the underlying form despite its changed orientation. Two olive baboons participated in the Primate Portal experiments at the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York. (Image credit: Rochester Institute of Technology)Correct answers earned the monkeys fruit-flavored cereal pellets, preschoolers collected stickers that could later be exchanged for prizes, and adults received verbal feedback. Incorrect answers triggered a "bonk" sound and a short timeout from the game. Despite their limited formal education, the adult group had little trouble with the game, but the monkeys and the children had to put considerable thought into their choices. "We often think that this matching task will be super easy for humans," Li said. "But actually, young kids were struggling in completing the task in telling the shapes apart, which makes them more similar to monkeys." Ultimately, the children and monkeys could find the matches, Cantlon said, but only after taking a long time to think about the problem.The researchers then used computer models to investigate which visual properties best predicted participants' decisions. One model represented simple details, such as edges and lines. Another represented more complex information about a shape's overall form. A third encoded discrete geometric properties, such as equal sides, equal angles, symmetry and parallelism an approach the researchers described as "symbolic."According to Cantlon and Li, the term "symbolic" does not mean the monkeys were mentally applying rules such as "a square has four equal sides." Much of the apparent symbolic effect could be explained by the ability to recognize a shape regardless of its orientation, known as rotation invariance.If abstract geometry depended on a uniquely human symbolic system, only the human participants would have shown evidence of using that thought process. Instead, both monkeys and humans appeared to rely on a mixture of complex visual information and symbolic-like features. Adult humans generally performed the best, followed by preschoolers and monkeys, but their results overlapped. This finding suggests that the differences were quantitative, meaning humans are simply better at the same underlying kind of geometric reasoning rather than possessing an entirely unique ability., Monkeys relied roughly three times more strongly on the symbolic model when the shapes were rotated than when they remained upright. Brandon said one of the study's most intriguing findings is that what looks like uniquely human symbolic reasoning for understanding geometry may actually grow out of flexible, abstract ways of representing information that are shared by humans and other primates. Ancient roots of geometryThe results do not mean that monkeys understand formal mathematics, Brannon cautioned. "Human mathematical reasoning extends far beyond recognizing geometric regularities it includes language, formal proof, recursive reasoning and cultural transmission." Rather, this study provides evidence that some of the building blocks of mathematical thought have deeper evolutionary roots than previously recognized, she said.Giorgio Vallortigara, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Trento in Italy who was not involved in the study, agrees with Brannon and her colleagues' conclusions.Vallortigara explained in an email to Live Science that previous studies have often focused on how animals understand the geometry of their surroundings, such as navigating spaces. What makes these findings different is that they show animals can also reason about the geometric properties of individual objects. Related stories'They reliably chose the statistically more favorable option': A crow researcher explains how these winged geniuses process numbers, and what it could reveal about human math smartsCrows understand the 'concept of zero' (despite their bird brains)Bees Can Solve Math Problems That Would Stump the Average ToddlerComparing species can help scientists trace the origins of geometry before language or arbitrary symbols became involved, Vallortigara said. It may also reveal whether similar abilities depend on mechanisms inherited from a common ancestor or evolved independently in animals with different nervous systems.Li and Cantlon are now breaking down shapes into components such as angles, side lengths and numbers of sides to identify which properties are the hardest for monkeys and humans to understand. Cantlon described the follow-up as "a deconstructed geometry task."The research could also help educators understand the geometric intuitions children bring into the classroom, Cantlon said, allowing lessons to build upon those abilities rather than treating geometry as something learned entirely from scratch."Evolution rarely invents entirely new mechanisms from scratch," Brannon said. "More often, it refines, recombines and extends existing ones."What do you know about chimpanzees and great apes? Test your smarts with our primate quiz!

An ecological "superspreader" event may be imminent as more than 1,500 ships continue to idle in the closed Strait of Hormuz, with the potential to cause serious impacts for human health and global marine ecosystems, scientists warn. In a study published July 22 in the journal Biological Invasions, scientists explain how the hundreds of stranded commercial vessels sitting idle on both sides of the strait are being colonized by marine microbes, algae, seaweed, barnacles and other invertebrates. The problem is that once these ships start moving again, these organisms will be spread all around the world. "The unprecedented scale and duration of this spring and summer mass lay-up of large commercial ships has created ideal conditions for a marine invasive species 'super-spreader' event," Mario Tamburri, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and first author of the study, said in a statement.The Iran War is already having devastating impacts around the world. After the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran retaliated by restricting shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz a critical shipping route that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and facilitates the transport of 20% of the world's oil supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But the economic impacts of the waterway's prolonged closure are only part of the story. While it's common for cargo ships to linger for a day or two at most ports, the study authors say these organisms which are arriving from all over the world and are now mixing and spreading among the other stationary vessels really begin to flourish after about 10 days of inactivity. When ships are idle for longer than 10 days, these organisms start to colonize "aggressively" as the special coatings that protect ships from contamination start to work less effectively, the researchers write. And once these organisms are brought into new environments, they can wreak havoc on local ecosystems."Marine invasions are hard to predict but it is possible for several species to establish themselves in new habitats and with some causing significant environmental and economic impacts," Tamburri told Live Science in an email.Tamburri pointed to the example of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Great Lakes. The mollusks, which are native to Europe and Asia, are thought to have been introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s via water discharged from large European cargo ships, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The impacts of these invasive animals are widespread: They filter out algae that native species need for food and attach to native mussels, preventing them from moving, feeding or reproducing, according to the National Park Service (NPS). They also clog pipes and water supply systems, which cost millions of dollars to fix. Each female zebra mussel can produce thousands of eggs, so once populations are established, there is "very little" that can be done to remove them, the NPS notes.In addition to outcompeting native species for space and resources, invasive species can spread disease. "One of the less perceptible concerns from biological invasions is the potential spread of infective stages of parasites and diseases that are either entrained within ship ballast tanks or associated with organisms attached to ship hulls," April Blakeslee, an associate professor of biology at East Carolina University, told Live Science in an email. Parasites and diseases introduced by ships could then spill over to native species, which could affect ecologically and/or commercially valuable species, or possibly pose concerns for human health, Blakeslee added. In other words, these species could spread diseases with the potential to infect local wildlife and humans, as well as fisheries and aquaculture. RELATED STORIESIran war has already released a staggering amount of CO2 and the destruction of schools, homes and buildings is the biggest sourceIran war could push global food insecurity to record levels, leaving 363 million people hungryAmerica's gun violence epidemic, through the eyes of a Chicago trauma surgeonTamburri said the areas most at risk are first ports of call with similar temperatures and salt levels to the Gulf region, particularly ports in India, Singapore, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and several ports in the Middle East.So what can be done to stop this "superspreading" event before it happens? According to the researchers, cleaning ships in the water before they leave the Gulf region could significantly reduce the spread of these organisms. Estimating the risks posed by specific ships before departure and setting up monitoring networks and early detection systems at high-risk ports may also limit the damage."While the human and economic consequences of events like the war in the Middle East will always remain the highest priority, ecological impacts cannot be overlooked," the researchers wrote.

What could go wrong? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Julius Berkowski took this particular daguerreotype in Prussia 175 years ago.

Think of it like a turducken of ancient species.