They say it takes a village to raise a child; for these birds, it is no different. Superb starlings not only help raise other starlings’ chicks, but they also switch between the roles of “parent” and “nanny” multiple times throughout their lives.

��è����Ƶs have long debated whether animals other than humans are capable of reciprocity – the tendency to help individuals in the hope they will help you down the road in turn. Recent research has uncovered that animals such as elephants, orcas and some primates care for the young of others.

By analysing 20 years’ worth of data from a breeding site of African superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) in Kenya, researchers found the birds also display this complex social behaviour. Up to 16 “helper” birds would assist a given set of parents in rearing their chicks.

While the birds showed some preference for helping those to which they were genetically related, they would readily give aid to – and accept help from – non-kin group members. This finding also undercuts the assumption that only closely related individuals act altruistically towards one another when rearing young.

What was especially unusual was that the breeding pair would often switch to a helper role during the next reproductive season. In species where animals act as “nannies” to others, they are typically younger individuals that stand to benefit from the experience before graduating to parenthood. Here, even seasoned bird parents take turns as helpers.

“These benefits are likely to combine and interact in fascinating ways that we don’t yet fully understand,” says at Princeton University.

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The authors say the discovery would not have been possible with a short-term study, as the pattern emerged only over many years of observation. Around 10 per cent of all bird species breed cooperatively, and long-term studies may reveal reciprocal relationships in these groups as well, says Carter.

Preeclampsia can lead to many pregnancy complications including death, but it can be hard to detect early in gestation. A new blood test could help doctors identify those at risk of developing the condition months before symptoms start.

“We can narrow it down to about 1 in 4 pregnancies that are truly at high risk, and that’s a big step,” says at Mirvie, a California-based health start-up.

Preeclampsia is a type of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP) that occurs when something – scientists aren’t sure precisely what – goes awry during the placenta’s development. This leads to high blood pressure, which can cause cardiovascular disease, organ damage, seizures and even death. It can also harm the developing fetus.

Catching preeclampsia and other HDPs can be difficult, however, because symptoms usually don’t show up until at least 20 weeks into pregnancy. Sometimes, the signs go undetected until labour. And monitoring placental development is tough because taking a tissue sample from the organ is extremely invasive.

The new blood test is relatively non-invasive, and uses RNA markers to predict whether someone is likely to develop an HDP. Specifically, the test focuses on certain genes, including PAPPA2 and CD163, the overexpression of which has previously been linked to HDPs. The researchers wanted to see whether they could detect this overexpression in blood samples.

Their validation study of more than 9000 pregnant people suggests they can: Jain says the test was able to determine with over 99 per cent accuracy whether or not someone without pre-existing risk factors overexpressed the genes and was therefore at high risk of preeclampsia or another HDP. Roughly one-quarter of the participants without pre-existing HDP risk factors overexpressed the genes.

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People in certain demographics – for example, those with pre-existing high blood pressure or a family history of preeclampsia – are known to have a moderately higher risk of developing the condition, says at Mirvie. But for many, it comes seemingly out of the blue.

Once someone knows they are at high risk of preeclampsia, they can take action to prevent it. Common interventions include taking drugs like aspirin, switching to a Mediterranean diet and monitoring blood pressure daily.

However, the new test only looked at people who were between 17.5 weeks and 22 weeks into pregnancy. “Ideally, aspirin has to be started prior to 16 weeks,” says at the University of Washington in Seattle. “So we’ve missed that window already by the time most people would be getting the results of this test.”

Mirvie plans to make the blood test commercially available soon. Once it is on the market, the team hopes other scientists will use it to develop drugs specifically targeted to the expression of genes like PAPPA2. Such molecular pinpointing “gives a much better chance for the treatment to show effect”, says Rasmussen.

Gray would also like to see researchers use Mirvie’s bank of RNA data to further nail down the genes behind preeclampsia risk for specific people. Narrowing the search profile could help lower the cost of the test, making it affordable for more people, she says.

For the first time, researchers have spotted infrared auroras swirling in Neptune’s atmosphere, verifying decades of scientific speculation.

When NASA’s Voyager 2 mission flew by Neptune in 1989, it found tantalising hints of aurora activity in the ice giant’s clouds. However, scientists were unable to verify the phenomenon at the time, as existing instruments were too weak. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally provided the power to detect them.

“This was really a fulfillment of years’ worth of anticipation,” says at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington DC.

Hammel and her colleagues used JWST’s NIRSpec, a powerful infrared imaging tool, to capture spectroscopic images of Neptune and analyse the different wavelengths of light emitted by the planet. In 2023, researchers used the instrument to detect . This time, it found them on Neptune as well.

The images also allowed Hammel and her team to begin constructing a map of Neptune’s magnetic field. This is particularly exciting as the planet is known to have some of the most unusual magnetic poles in the solar system.

Unlike Earth, Jupiter or Saturn, Neptune’s magnetic poles aren’t centred at its rotational poles. Instead, “they’re offset by almost half the planet’s radius”, says Hammel. As a result, its auroras appear as irregular blobs much closer to its equator, over roughly the region where South America sits on Earth.

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In addition to detecting auroras, the JWST observations indicate that Neptune’s ionosphere – the layer of charged particles blanketing some planets – is cooling down. It is now, on average, about 10 per cent colder than when Voyager 2 passed by nearly 36 years ago. Similar changes have been detected on Uranus.

While the authors of the new study aren’t sure why this cooling occurred, they hope their next JWST observation period, scheduled for 2026, will offer more clues.

Science of astronomy and ice: Sweden

From striking alpine forests to picturesque snowcapped mountains, travelling to northern Sweden during the winter months offers a truly magical experience.

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