Science News Roundup: Boeing's Starliner capsule docks with space station in uncrewed flight test; Grunt, hoo, pant, scream: Chimps use complex vocal communication

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Grunt, hoo, pant, scream: Chimps use complex vocal communication

Scientists exploring the evolutionary origin of language have detected a vocal communication system among wild chimpanzees more complex and structured than previously known, with a dozen call types combined into hundreds of different sequences. The researchers made more than 4,800 recordings of vocalizations produced by members of three groups of chimpanzees inhabiting Ivory Coast's Taï National Park, one of the last major remnants of old-growth tropical forest in West Africa and home to a rich array of plants and animals.

Boeing's Starliner capsule docks with space station in uncrewed flight test

Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule docked for the first time with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, completing a major objective in a high stakes do-over test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard. The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with the orbital research outpost, currently home to a seven-member crew, occurred nearly 26 hours after the capsule was launched from Cape Canaveral U.S. Space Force Base in Florida.

(With inputs from agencies.)