■ Monkeys have neutral accents too
To the untrained ear monkeys of a certain species may all sound the same, but Japanese researchers have found that, like human beings, they actually have an accent depending on where they live. The finding, the first of its kind, will appear in the December edition of a German scientific journal Ethology that was published yesterday, the primate researchers said this week. The research team analyzed voice tones of two groups of the same species of primates, the Japanese Yakushima macaque also known as Macaca fuscata yakui, between 1990 and 2000.
■ Caps off to Belgian office workers
The ever-efficient Belgian postal service wants to know how long it takes mailmen and women to put on and take off their motorbike helmets, a report said this week. At present, the people delivering mail have to put on their helmets when they leave or return from a trip, but are not obliged to wear them during the trip itself, the Flemish Het Nieuwsblad op Zondag newspaper reported, citing the Belga press agency. The impetus for this helmets on-off calculation is an increase in accidents among the 4,000 motorized mail carriers.
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