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Scientists recently discovered a new elephant behavior that is simply bananas. An Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at the Berlin Zoo can use her trunk to peel bananas before eating them, a new study reveals. 

She wasn’t trained to do this; instead, researchers believe she picked up the skill by watching zookeepers peel bananas for her. 

An incredible video shows the elephant, named Pang Pha, first grasp the banana with the end of her trunk. Then, she twists her trunk around on itself, breaks the banana by ripping off the stem end, and throws the rest on the ground. She then picks up the banana again, this time by pinching the frayed peel with her trunk, and uses the banana’s weight to methodically peel the fruit. This might not be exactly the way keepers peel bananas, but it’s a remarkable feat for a thumbless animal. 

Related: Do elephants really “never forget”?

Study first author Lena Kaufmann (opens in new tab) , a doctoral student at Humboldt University of Berlin, began working with the elephant to study how the animals sense touch sensations with their trunks. Soon after, the zookeepers began to mention other intriguing behaviors they had spotted, like banana peeling. Kaufman didn’t believe it at first. To see for herself, Kaufmann began to feed Pang Pha bananas to see what would happen.

“I started bringing bananas for her,” Kaufmann told Live Science. “And I didn’t see anything. She just took the banana and ate it. So I started doubting it.” 

But Kaufmann was bringing green bananas, fresh from the supermarket, and Pang Pha would simply swallow them whole. When Kaufmann offered Pang Pha a more ripe banana, one with little brown spots on the peel, the elephant grasped the banana and carefully opened it to get at the pulp inside. 

It turned out that Pang Pha has preferences. She will eat green bananas whole when offered them, but will take time to peel sweeter, more ripe bananas. She does not, however, like extremely ripe bananas. 

“At first, I gave her a [brown banana] and she basically dropped it and left it on the floor,” said Kaufmann. “After that, I gave her a second one, and immediately she threw it at me.”

Through repeated experimentation, Kaufmann learned that Pang Pha will occasionally peel and eat an overripe banana, but she clearly doesn’t seem to enjoy them. RELATED STORIES—Asian elephant mom carries dead calf for weeks, new eye-opening video reveals

—350 elephants killed by ‘a combination of neurotoxins’ in water, Botswana government says

—After rampant ivory poaching, some African elephants lost their tusks — Why?

Kaufmann next studied how and when she peels bananas in social situations, where she is being fed bananas as a part of a group. In these cases the vast majority of Pang Pha’s bananas were eaten without being peeled. That is, until she was on her last banana, which she would take her time to peel 60% of the time. 

Kaufmann believes that Pang Pha’s reluctance to peel bananas during group feeding is a sign that she optimized the behavior for her benefit. When alone, Pang Pha is more likely to carefully peel each banana, but when eating communally, she has to eat very quickly, or the other elephants might leave her with no bananas. In that case, she swallows them whole, but chooses to savor the last banana.

Pang Pha’s remarkable feat was described April 10 in the journal Current Biology (opens in new tab) .

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Rare earth stocks surge on U.S-China trade dispute over the critical minerals

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Rare earth stocks surge on U.S-China trade dispute over the critical minerals

A dump truck moves raw ore inside the pit at the Mountain Pass mine, operated by MP Materials, in Mountain Pass, California, U.S., on Friday, June 7, 2019.

Joe Buglewicz | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of U.S. rare earth miners surged in early trading Monday, after President Donald Trump threatened China with retaliation over its strict export controls.

USA Rare Earth soared more than 18%, Critical Metals surged 18%, Energy Fuels jumped more than 11%, and MP Materials rallied about 8%.

Trump on Friday threatened China with a “massive” increase in tariffs in retaliation for Beijing imposing strict export controls on rare earth elements. The president then dialed down his rhetoric on Sunday, saying the situation with China will “be fine.”

The Defense Department, meanwhile, is accelerating its effort to stockpile $1 billion worth of critical minerals, according to The Financial Times.

And JPMorgan Chase said Monday it would invest up to $10 billion in companies that are crucial to U.S. national security.

“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing — all of which are essential for our national security,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in press release.

Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals that are crucial inputs in U.S. weapons platforms, robotics, electric vehicles and other applications.

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Bloom Energy shares soar more than 30% after striking deal with Brookfield to provide fuel cells to AI data centers

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Bloom Energy shares soar more than 30% after striking deal with Brookfield to provide fuel cells to AI data centers

Bloom Energy power storage equipment in San Ramon, California.

Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Shares of Bloom Energy surged Monday after striking a deal with Brookfield to deploy fuel cells for artificial intelligence data centers.

Brookfield will spend up to $5 billion to deploy Bloom Energy’s technology, the first investment in its strategy to support big AI data centers with power and computing infrastructure.

Shares of Bloom Energy were up more than 30% in early trading. Bloom’s fuel cells provide onsite power that can be deployed quickly because they do not rely on the electric grid.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC last week that the AI industry will need to build power off the electric to meet demand quickly and protect consumers from rising electricity prices.

“Data center self-generated power could move a lot faster than putting it on the grid and we have to do that,” Huang told CNBC on Oct. 8.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

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JPMorgan Chase says it will invest $10 billion into industries critical for national security

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JPMorgan Chase says it will invest  billion into industries critical for national security

JPMorgan Chase says it will invest $10 billion into industries critical for national security

JPMorgan Chase on Monday said it is launching a decade-long plan to help finance and take direct stakes in companies it considers crucial to U.S. interests.

The bank said in a statement it would invest up to $10 billion into companies in four areas: defense and aerospace, “frontier” technologies including AI and quantum computing, energy technology including batteries, and supply chain and advanced manufacturing.

The money is part of a broader effort, dubbed the Security and Resiliency Initiative, in which JPMorgan said it will finance or facilitate $1.5 trillion in funding for companies it identifies as crucial. It said the total amount is 50% more than a previous plan.

“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing — all of which are essential for our national security,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in the release.

As the biggest American bank by assets and a Wall Street juggernaut, JPMorgan was already raising funds and lending money to companies in those industries. But the move helps organize the company’s activities around national interests at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China.

On Friday, markets tumbled as President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese imports after the major U.S. trading partner tightened export controls on rare earths.

In the release, Dimon said that the U.S. needs to “remove obstacles” including excessive regulations, “bureaucratic delay” and “partisan gridlock.”

JPMorgan said that within the four major areas, there were 27 specific industries it would look to support with advice, financing and investments. That includes areas as diverse as nanomaterials, autonomous robots, spacecraft and space launches, and nuclear and solar power.

“Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy,” Dimon said. “This new initiative includes efforts like ensuring reliable access to life-saving medicines and critical minerals, defending our nation, building energy systems to meet AI-driven demand and advancing technologies like semiconductors and data centers.”

The bank said it would hire an unspecified numbers of bankers and create an external advisory council to support its initiative.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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