Short Science, August 18, 2013

Scientists said they were surprised to witness a chimpanzee and an orang-utan swimming and diving in water - a skill that primates were thought to have lost long ago. Evolutionary researchers Renato Bender and Dr Nicole Bender made the observation while filming two primates raised in captivity in the United States. "We were extremely surprised when the chimp, Cooper, dived repeatedly into a swimming pool in Missouri and seemed to feel very comfortable," Renato Bender from the South African University of the Witwatersrand said. "It was very surprising behaviour for an animal that is thought to be very afraid of water." AFP

Brazil will set up a certification centre to strengthen data security and prevent surveillance in online communications, the army's technology department announced. The centre would be operational by next year to certify equipment to protect information from espionage, the department's head, Sinclair Mayer, told a government hearing examining US espionage in Brazil. The move was aimed at keeping unsafe equipment from being used in the country, Mayer added. US agencies had been spying on Brazilians online, according to information leaked by American Edward Snowden. Xinhua