Saturday Citations: Greenland sharks; quantum weirdness; people are mostly pretty chill

June 6, 2026 report Saturday Citations: Greenland sharks; quantum weirdness; people are mostly pretty chill Chris Packham Author Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor This week, researchers reported that GLP-1 medications may influence the biology of aging. Hidden meltwater in deep Antarctic coastal waters has a strong climate impact. And a novel prostate cancer treatment reduced risk of disease progression by half in a clinical trial. Additionally, some physicists have explored what would happen if you truncated a photon, and their result is weird; biologists have comprehensively mapped the genome of the Greenland shark; and people are probably a lot cooler and more chill and cooperative than you think they are. Photon truncated Once you've broken down matter into elementary particles, you can't go any further in a practical, real-world sense. But theoretically, you can do anything you want, so a group of theoretical physicists recently considered what would happen if you were to truncate a photon with an optical shutter. And it actually should be possible to remove a part of an optical pulse, they write. Their paper explores the resulting state of such a truncation, and it will come as no surprise to anyone with passing familiarity with quantum physics that the answer is really weird. What you might predict is that the optical shutter would produce a photon on one side and a vacuum on the other, but the researchers theorize that it will instead produce a superposition of states containing infinitely many photons. This is because seemingly empty space is roiled by fluctuations in the electromagnetic field. Rapidly switching an optical shutter disturbs these fluctuations, which spontaneously generate new photons. Fish venerable Everything that's happened up to this point: Around 1600, William Shakespeare wrote "Hamlet." In 1686, Sir Isaac Newton published "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," establishing the first mathematical model of physics. The global human population reached 1 billion in 1804. Krakatoa exploded in 1883 in one of the biggest volcanic events in modern history. In 1969, humans walked on the moon. Last year, the developers of metal-organic frameworks won the Nobel Prize. What do these events have in common? Very likely, in the deepest, coldest reaches of the ocean, there is a Greenland shark who was alive during all of them. Native to the freezing waters around Greenland, Canada and Iceland, they are the longest-living vertebrates in the world. They grow about 1 centimeter a year, taking about 150 years to reach sexual maturity. Biologists, fascinated by the longevity of these massive fish, have now compiled the first comprehensive map of the entire Greenland shark genome. In their study, they report several genetic features that could account for their long lifespans. Among others, they cite amino acid substitutions in the histone H1.0 protein that they believe affect chromatin stability, preventing the genetic wear that contributes to aging. People nice Do you feel like your willingness to cooperate with other people is not shared by anyone else? Congratulations, you're wrong and so is pretty much everyone around you. A recent behavioral study found that 69% of participants chose to cooperate, but that most of them systematically underrated the willingness of others to do the same. But why are people generally inclined to cooperate? The study was centered on a decision experiment that was conducted the same way with participants around the world. Each participant was assigned an unknown partner from their own country and given two options: "Do not cooperate," which would yield a secure payoff of $100, or "cooperate," which would yield only $70. However, if both participants, independently and without consulting each other, chose the cooperation option, the study team (and presumably its funders) donated $400 to organizations combating climate change. A clear majority chose cooperation—69% of participants globally. The researchers accounted for the role of cooperation expectations, social norms and preferences and found that expectations of cooperation were key: Those who believe others are willing to cooperate are themselves more likely to cooperate. And people who were more altruistic, patient and willing to take risks were more likely to choose cooperation. Written for you by our author Chris Packham, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you. © 2026 Science X Network