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Octopuses may have a hidden talent once thought to belong only to birds and mammals: using mirrors to understand the world around them. A new study published in Current Biology found that California two-spot octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden outside their direct line of sight. After training, the animals correctly navigated to the reward about 73 percent of the time. Researchers taught three octopuses that what they saw in a mirror reflected something behind them. Instead of attacking the reflection itself, the animals learned to turn around and head toward the actual location of the hidden reward. Some even found creative shortcuts by climbing over barriers rather than taking the longer route. Until now, researchers had only documented this kind of mirror-assisted spatial problem-solving in vertebrates, such as certain mammals and birds. The findings suggest octopuses, despite being separated from humans by hundreds of millions of years of evolution, may h

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Scientists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic that attacks drug-resistant bacteria in a way no existing medicine does. Researchers at McMaster University identified a compound called manikomycin, which has shown early promise against dangerous pathogens including E. coli and Salmonella. Unlike current antibiotics, the drug targets a previously unexplored weak spot in bacteria, blocking the exit site of the ribosome. Because existing bacteria have not been exposed to antibiotics that attack this target, scientists say they currently have no known resistance mechanisms against the new compound. The discovery is particularly exciting because it came from revisiting a soil bacterium that researchers had long assumed had been thoroughly studied. Using modern techniques, the team uncovered molecules that had been overlooked for decades. Researchers have already shown that manikomycin is not toxic to human cells and works in laboratory models of infection. They are now developi