Author: openjargon

• Drone warfare is changing fast and demands battalions of specialists to fully exploit its potential.
• The group would fly support drones to increase the effectiveness of its attack and spy drones.
• The air war in Ukraine has become a cat-and-mouse game where drones must constantly evolve.

Experience in Ukraine suggests that armies should concentrate drones in special battalions that have the skills pilots to fly them and the programmers to rapidly adapt to constant jamming, according to British defense experts.

Ukrainian data shows "the efficiency of [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] operations when conducted by a dedicated formation has risen from 10 percent up to 70 percent for some mission sets," according to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank. The report did not provide any more specifics on the data, other than a footnote that said it was based on Ukrainian General Staff "datasets of mission performance between different formations" that RUSI accessed in Ukraine in February 2024.

The RUSI report advocates the creation of "mass precision strike complex" units that launch integrated swarms of drones comprised of different types of reconnaissance and combat UAVs. The concept seems similar to "strike packages" of manned combat jets, which combine attack, escort and electronic warfare planes on a mission. To be clear, the report isn't calling for infantry platoons to be stripped of their backpack-carried drones, which have proven indispensable in Ukraine and the Middle East. But it does argue that for some tasks, such as long-range surveillance and strike, it's more efficient and economical to achieve this through dedicated units.

"UAVs may be distributed to provide units with situational awareness, but mass precision strike should be managed by a specialist formation," the report concluded. In addition to better mission planning by personnel trained and experienced in drone operations, "experience from contemporary theatres shows that almost all UAV capabilities are highly susceptible to hard counters as the adversary learns how the UAV functions; capabilities must therefore be continuously adapted and their supporting mission data files updated. This requires scarce skills such as UAV design and programming and the accumulation of data centrally."

RUSI envisions each drone battalion being equipped with everything needed to conduct a variety of UAV operations. The units would comprise "airframes and their payloads, and the launch crews, command links, planning tools, intelligence support and design teams required to field the capability," wrote RUSI researchers Jack Watling and Justin Bronk.

Drone battalions would have five types of UAVs whose capabilities range from spying enemy advances to blasting critical rear sites with explosives. This would include "situational awareness UAVs optimized for tactical reconnaissance; tactical strike UAVs; ISR [reconnaissance] UAVs able to penetrate into operational depth; operational strike UAVs; and platform-launched effects designed specifically to synchronize with and enable other weapons systems."

The idea is to have self-contained formations that can identify and destroy targets across the battlefield and beyond. To support friendly ground troops in contact with the enemy, flocks of expendable reconnaissance drones would operate up to 5 miles beyond the enemy front line. They would locate targets, such as armored vehicles and infantry trenches, that could be quickly hit by the battalion's cheap attack drones.

Meanwhile, longer-range reconnaissance drones would stalk up to 60 miles into the enemy's rear, searching for artillery pieces, air defense batteries and command posts that could be hit by missiles and other guided weapons. The drone battalion would also launch long-range strike weapons — with a range out to 300 miles — that could destroy fixed sites, such as supply depots, bridges and ammunition dumps. "By offering a persistent threat of precision strike against logistical infrastructure and command and control elements, these capabilities would add significant friction to the enemy's ability to resupply and coordinate forces, and therefore to achieve concentration," the report said. "These capabilities also represent a concern for air and naval forces insofar as they threaten infrastructure and basing."

To maximize the effectiveness of reconnaissance and strike drones — and to keep them from being knocked down by enemy air defenses — the battalion would also have a variety of support UAVs. This would include long-endurance airborne communications drones to relay datalinks between the combat UAVs and ground operations, electronic warfare drones to jam radars and communications systems, and decoy drones to confuse enemy air defenses.

The Ukraine conflict demonstrates how warfare has become a cat-and-mouse game where drones must constantly evolve to survive enemy jamming of their control links. "As of mid-2023, the average period of peak effectiveness for a newly deployed UAV navigation and/ or control system on the battlefield was around two weeks, with degrading effectiveness over four more weeks," the report noted. "Between six and 12 weeks, the adversary would have gathered sufficient data on the waveforms and techniques being used to start effectively jamming and/or spoofing the system across the front."

Non-drone units lack the capability to identify and develop the software and communications challenges to respond to enemy countermeasures. "It therefore makes sense to concentrate UAV operation if UAVs are parts of a mass precision strike complex," the report concluded.

The issue of whether to concentrate or disperse assets is an old one. Until World War II, tanks were dispersed in small packets among infantry divisions, while aircraft were assigned to the ground forces. But experience proved that tanks were most effective when massed in tank divisions, and aircraft were best assigned to an independent air force that specialized in aerial operations (some still question the wisdom of the latter).

Drone operations may very well be more efficient in the hands of specialized battalions. But regular units will inevitably want their own drones that are available when needed, rather than having to request support from others. The issue is unlikely to be settled quickly or easily.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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American warships and bases in the Pacific are within reach of an increasingly worrying threat, a missile force unlike anything the US has faced in combat.

China's ever-expanding Rocket Force is armed with thousands of missiles with ominous nicknames such as "carrier killers" and the "Guam Express."

US military leaders and officials say these weapons could make a war in the Indo-Pacific devastating for American forces. And that's exactly the message they say Beijing wants to send, that messing with China would be catastrophic.

The dangers are startling. An American air base such as Andersen on Guam that routinely hosts US bombers or a carrier strike group sailing in the South China Sea could face dozens, even hundreds, of ballistic missiles in salvos intended to overwhelm their defenses, shatter critical capabilities, and send US warships sinking into the depths. China's missiles haven't been tested in combat, but the threat is real.

In interviews with Business Insider, current and former military officials and defense analysts described the meteoric rise of China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force as a chief concern. One senior defense official said it's changing America's appetite for war in the region, "creating a conventional deterrence capability that threatens our posture, our presence, and our activities in ways that would potentially cause decision-makers in Washington to consider the risks to be too high."

From 2021 to 2022, the Chinese military effectively doubled its stock of some missiles, including the medium-range ballistic missiles it might use to target American military bases in Japan and intermediate-range missiles that are able to reach Guam, the Pentagon said in its most recent report on the military threat from China.

The "dramatic expansion" of the Chinese missile arsenal, especially MRBMs and IRBMs, is designed to threaten US forces and allies across the Indo-Pacific region, Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a retired US Navy submarine officer, said.

What these key developments show "is that the PLA leadership has decided that the long-range missiles are a winning capability for them," Bryan Clark, a retired US Navy officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, said.

The current commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, said in his final public interview before he retired that during his tenure as commander, "the security environment has changed drastically and not in a good way," calling China "the most concerning security threat that exists."

China's growing, far-reaching arsenal

China's military doctrine focuses heavily on maintaining the ability to deter threats and, failing that, striking fast and hard. It also encourages maintaining an element of surprise before dealing significant damage to its foes. The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force gives it such an option.

It "is designed as a mechanism to deliver an anti-access, area-denial (A2AD) strategy to push the US and allies and partners from the region," retired Adm. Harry Harris, a former commander of Pacific Command and former ambassador to South Korea, told BI.

He said that the force's "objective is to be able to enforce the illegal and illegitimate claim of everything inside the nine-dash line as sovereign Chinese sea and airspace, as well as forcibly bring Taiwan under Beijing's control."

The nine-dash line refers to China's vast claims in the South China Sea, including its human-made islands and others it has disputes with neighbors over.

Harris said China's advancing missile capabilities concerned him more than any other Chinese military developments during his time as the 24th commander of what was then Pacific Command.

The Taiwan Strait is one area where the Pentagon has said China is strategically expanding its Rocket Force with "new missile brigades, potentially indicating an increasing number of deployed missiles."

Experts said this was part of a larger strategy to prevent the US and its allies from gaining unrestricted access to the Pacific region — whether in a war or in a scenario where US forces attempt to come to Taiwan's aid during a Chinese blockade or invasion.

With these missiles, China is signaling that it could attack US bases and ships in the region with little to no warning, Clark said. One such missile, the DF-26, has been commonly referred to as the "Guam Express" or the "Guam Killer" because it can reach US forces on the island, which is roughly 3,000 miles from Beijing.

The weapon, capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional payloads, also has an anti-ship role and another nickname: "carrier killer." The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force's DF-21D is another such missile that China could use to target US ships.

There's a lot more to the Chinese Rocket Force than these weapons, though. Other elements of the PLARF arsenal are its DF-17 hypersonic missile, short-range ballistic missiles such as the DF-15 that give it the ability to strike Taiwan with relative ease, and intercontinental ballistic missiles like the DF-5s, DF-31s, and newer DF-41s.

Newer developments, the Pentagon said last fall, "will significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces and will require increased nuclear-warhead production." The US Defense Department estimates China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads, the third most in the world, and that number is expected to increase.

While some are based in silos, many of China's missiles are road-mobile assets or hidden in caves and mountains, making them harder to kill. And outside the Rocket Force, Chinese submarines carry long-range missiles. Its H-6 bombers can do the same. Any confrontation with China must account for the likelihood that many of its nuclear forces would survive direct strikes.

In regard to the Chinese "carrier killer" missiles, satellite-imagery analysts have for years been finding mock-ups of US aircraft carriers and other warships out in Chinese deserts. The suspected targets suggest that China may be relying on these mock-ups to improve its missiles or to practice locking on to and hitting American warships. China has also conducted tests at sea, at least one against a moving target.

After the Pentagon's latest report on China's military power came out, Shugart suggested the sheer number of DF-26s and launchers could turn the missile into a generic "ship killer," available for strikes on not just high-value carriers but also destroyers, cruisers, amphibious assault ships, fleet oilers, and more.

And China doesn't have to sink a ship to score a combat kill. Damaged vessels would have to limp back home, where US repair and maintenance woes could mean a slow recovery.

That changes considerations for US Navy vessels when operating in the Indo-Pacific and raises questions about the role of aircraft carriers in a conflict with China, as they may not be able to get within the strike range for F/A-18s or F-35s.

At a certain range, Clark said, "you're going to have to expend so much effort trying to conceal your presence and prevent targeting by Chinese forces, it's going to constrain your ability to do air operations" from a carrier. And the jets might not even be able to reach their targets.

China's missiles could also influence how the Navy arms its warships, forcing them to carry more air-defense missiles at the expense of other weapons that may be useful in land-attack missions or a confrontation with China's larger navy.

Better defenses, but more work to do

In the vast Indo-Pacific region, the Rocket Force is one of the US military's top concerns "because of its unique capabilities to execute long-range precision fires while not exposing large numbers of personnel to danger," a senior defense official told BI, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence observations of threats in the Indo-Pacific.

Facing this threat and others from China, the US has expanded its training exercises and strengthened connections with its Pacific allies and partners to counter not only PLARF but also the broader Chinese military, the official added.

Experts and analysts have long called for the US to respond to the challenges from China in a way that recognizes the scale of the threats at hand, which goes far beyond the Rocket Force, as frequent risky and unsafe intercepts of US and allied aircraft by China have shown.

Harris said one of the best ways to counter PLARF would be to make "robust" air and missile defenses a reality this decade in the region, with the US positioning land-based, medium-range ballistic-missile systems there, working closer with allies, and not letting China determine US foreign policy in the area, especially with Taiwan.

The US has beefed up its air defenses in the region, employing Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries in South Korea and working with Japan's navy on ballistic-missile interceptors such as the SM-3 Block IIA as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. And in Guam, the Army has fast-tracked a new project and office for the island's defenses. But experts argue that more is needed.

Robert Peters, a research fellow on nuclear deterrence and missile defense for the Heritage Foundation, wrote in January that the US should station Aegis Afloat cruisers near Guam that are equipped to defeat ballistic missiles. Peters said the US couldn't afford to lose Guam, and the land-based Aegis defense option is likely years from deployment.

"Should a war with China break out, conventional thinking is that China would launch a large salvo of cruise and ballistic missiles at Guam to destroy military bases there that are key to US military operations throughout the Pacific," he wrote, adding that an attack would be a "modern Pearl Harbor" that could hinder power projection and logistics.

Beyond strengthening air defenses, the US can also harden bases in the Pacific so that infrastructure, such as critical runways, could survive a barrage and still launch aircraft. But the disaggregation and dispersal of forces is also important. Fixed bases are targets that can only brace for an attack, not avoid them. 

The US Air Force turned to a new doctrine in August 2022 that assessed: "New weapons systems now place bases at risk that were previously considered sanctuaries." That shift led to the creation of Agile Combat Employment, which looks to atypical approaches to keep key assets from being destroyed.

Agile Combat Employment considers highways, fields, beaches, and more as nontraditional runways to create "a network of smaller, dispersed locations that can complicate adversary planning and provide more options for joint-force commanders." China can target runways at air bases, but it can't hit every piece of concrete in the Pacific.

US ground forces in the region are also keeping an eye on the Chinese Rocket Force, but they're less concerned than the other service branches that China more clearly has in its crosshairs.

The US Army Pacific commander, Gen. Charles Flynn, told BI that while the growth of the Chinese Rocket Force had been "meteoric," PLARF's missiles were "primarily designed to defeat naval and air power."

"I'm always worried about rockets," Flynn said, but they're "not there primarily to defeat distributed, dispersed, mobile, some fixed and some unfixed, reloadable, and meshed land-forces network," which his command and its allies in the Pacific have been developing and prioritizing.

That said, he added, there are many ways for ground forces to create a "dilemma" for Chinese missile forces, such as masking signatures, hiding in different environments, and undermining PLARF's ability to find, locate, and target them.

Beyond defensive measures, the US has various offensive options for combating the Rocket Force.

Difficult-to-detect American submarines can, for instance, fire cruise and ballistic missiles. Stealth bombers, like the B-2 Spirit, can also avoid being spotted while on missions to knock out China's weapons. The US doesn't have the missiles to counter China in this theater of operations, though these systems are in development.

Weak points in the missile game

PLARF may be, as Shugart has said, the "crown jewel" of the Chinese military, but it's not without its limitations. Recent high-profile cases of corruption across the army, in particular in PLARF, have raised questions about how widespread graft may be — and whether that's affecting readiness in the short term.

US intelligence has documented several cases of supposed corruption, including missiles filled with water rather than rocket fuel and problematic silos. Military leadership shake-ups, too, have sparked concerns, as many senior officers and bigwig defense leaders were replaced with little to no explanation.

That said, the US and its allies can't afford to assume the Rocket Force won't be ready should conflict come.

"They now have the world's largest navy, the largest air force in the region," Clark said, "but they invest substantially in these long-range missiles because it's clear that they see that as a more reliable capability."

But clarity on the threat gives the US options. Knowing that China could lean on its missiles in a Pacific showdown allows American forces to train and adapt to work around such a threat.

"Deterrence is a combination of a country's capability and willingness to use that capability," Harris said, "and an adversary's perception of both." In other words, how the US prepares itself and adapts to the Chinese Rocket Force gives it the best shot at avoiding a fight altogether. But there's no guarantee deterrence holds.

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• Jack Dorsey seems to support Kendrick Lamar's latest disses on Canadian rapper Drake.
• The former Twitter CEO liked a post on X calling "Euphoria" a "top-10 diss track."
• Dorsey's support for Lamar goes back years — he even appeared in one of Lamar's music videos.

The beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has been filled with unexpected characters, including pop sensation Taylor Swift and long-dead legend Tupac Shakur.

Now, Twitter and Block cofounder Jack Dorsey is weighing in — and it appears that he's got "PRIDE" for Kung Fu Kenny.

After a back-and-forth of three diss tracks between Lamar and Drake, Lamar released two songs this week. "Euphoria" dropped on Tuesday, and "6:16 in LA" dropped on Friday.

Both of Lamar's tracks received approval from super-fan Dorsey, who has recently liked both new and old posts on X and praised the Compton rapper.

"I will give people a couple weeks to realize Kendrick dropped a top-10 diss track of all time," one post Dorsey liked from Wednesday said.

The former CEO also replied Friday with a heart emoji to an old 2011 Lamar post advertising a Toronto concert on June 16. Toronto is Drake's home city, and some fans have speculated that the "6:16" in Lamar's latest diss references this post.

Dorsey didn't become a fan overnight. The former Twitter CEO has been a consistent supporter of Lamar's art. In 2015, Dorsey posted a video at a Lamar concert calling the rapper "the greatest."

He's also praised many of Lamar's records, including the Pulitzer-prize-winning "Damn" and his pandemic record "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers."

"this is an opera. @kendricklamar is a poet and a teacher. I learn something new each listen…and I can't listen to anything else. constant spin," Dorsey said of the 2022 album.

At one point, Dorsey even toyed with the idea of Lamar becoming a potential Twitter board member in 2016, Vox reported.

Lamar reciprocated the love by bringing Dorsey on for 2022 music video for the song "Count Me Out." Dorsey makes a quick cameo by sharing a toast with Lamar and venture capitalist Aviv Nevo.

Lamar also worked with Dorsey's fintech company Block and Ticketmaster to offer fans early access tickets for his 2022 Big Steppers tour, Quartz reported.

Dorsey isn't the only unlikely character outside the music world to chime in on Drake and Lamar's ongoing saga.

Actor Uma Thurman nodded to Drake in April through an Instagram post featuring an image of her costume in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Volume 1." In the film, Thurman played the katana-wielding, revenge-seeking "Bride."

"Need this? @champagnepapi," Thurman wrote as a caption in her story.

On Lamar's side, iconic soul singer Al Green approved of his latest track, which uses a sample of Green's "What A Wonderful Thing Love Is."

It's an embarrassing development for Drake, who was roasted and promptly asked to remove one of his diss tracks against Lamar last week after Shakur's estate took issue with Drake's use of AI to recreate Pac's voice.

On Friday night, Drake released his latest response to Lamar: "Family Matters." In the 7-minute track, Drake mentions Lamar's longtime fiancée, Whitney Alford, and goes after Rick Ross, J. Cole, and The Weeknd.

Dorsey and spokespeople for Drake and Lamar did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• The US Air Force is testing AI-powered F-16 jets in combat training scenarios.
• Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall conducted a historic test flight on Thursday.
• In some combat scenarios, the AI-powered jets outperform human pilots, AP reported.

The US Air Force conducted a historic test flight on Thursday of its AI-powered X-62A VISTA autonomous warplane.

The flight over Edwards Air Force Base, for which Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall sat in the cockpit, ran through several combat exercises and aerial battle scenarios, per The Associated Press. The outlet reported that the AI-powered aircraft, which has flown roughly two dozen flights since testing began in September, has begun to outperform human pilots in some scenarios.

The AP reported that in the Thursday flight, the X-62A VISTA plane went "nearly nose to nose" with a human-piloted F-16 as they maneuvered within 1,000 feet of each other at speeds of more than 550 miles per hour.

While humanitarian groups have expressed deep concern about putting life-and-death decisions in the hands of an AI-powered craft, Kendall stressed that AI is already restructuring global warfare strategies whether we like it or not.

"It's a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it," Kendall told AP after he landed.

AP reported that the US Air Force is betting big on AI, investing in a fleet of 1,000 unmanned drones to perform riskier maneuvers than are possible with manned craft, with the first operating in 2028.

While AP reported that pilots at the Edwards Air Force Base know that AI-powered craft may soon replace them, the outlet noted that the airmen are loathe to face off against an adversary with AI capabilities if the US doesn't have its own autonomous fleet.

"We have to keep running. And we have to run fast," Kendall told AP after his Thursday flight.

The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• As graduation season approaches, a new wave of hopeful college grads look toward the future.
• Two college seniors share their feelings about graduating and the gifts on their wishlist.
• From gift cards to new laptops, these are the items college seniors want to help them transition into their next chapter.

When Leor H. started university in 2020 during COVID-19, his parents weren't allowed to step foot in his dorm because of safety restrictions. They drove him all the way from Boston to his university in New Brunswick, Canada, dropped him off, and went home. 

"Basically, we said goodbye, and he went into his dorm, and I didn't see his dorm for quite some time," his mom Danya H. said. 

Now, as Leor and his other 2024 classmates get ready to graduate, they eagerly anticipate the in-person experiences they may have missed during their early years of college, like on-site jobs, family time, and travel. Relatives, friends, and colleagues can support these seniors by being there to help them navigate their next steps and by giving gifts that can help them achieve their goals. 

Planning for post-grad life 

Leor, a psychology student preparing to become a behavioral therapist for children with autism, plans to take a gap year to enjoy time with his family and travel solo through Asia before pursuing a master's degree. Useful gifts like a travel backpack, new set of AirPods, or Apple Gift Card for flexible purchases would be great for his upcoming adventures.

Leor is looking forward to celebrating graduation with his parents, siblings, and grandmother who are driving up from Boston to join in on the occasion. While he's excited about the future, he admits he also feels nervous about leaving college. 

"There is some anxiety there, really not knowing what that next stage is going to look like," he said. "But at the end of the day, it's very bittersweet where I'm both excited about what's next but also sad about where I'm leaving."

Feelings of confusion or sadness about graduation are not uncommon, but his mom assures him that it's okay to embrace the unknown. Her advice to her son and other college students is that you don't need an exact plan when you graduate.

"I think most [young adults] have so much wisdom and knowledge, and they don't need to also figure everything out in their early twenties," she said. "I don't think Leor needs all of the answers. I just love that he comes to us with good questions."

Entering the professional world 

Emma Z., a senior at a university in New York City, also has mixed emotions about graduation. She's hoping to take a short break after college before starting a job in the city as a marketing and partnerships coordinator in the fashion industry. Long term, she sees herself becoming a marketing executive or starting her own firm.

Throughout her college years, Emma balanced her studies with marketing and social media internships, gaining experience with fashion and jewelry brands. Working as a freelance stylist, she also created visuals for editorial campaigns.

"I'll definitely miss the flexibility of being a student and having a day-to-day student schedule, but I'm excited to go into a career," Emma said. 

As Emma transitions to professional life, she values the guidance from mentors and colleagues at her current jobs. She said a new purse for the office or an updated MacBook would smooth the switch from student life to the workforce. Apple Gift Card could go toward a new MacBook or give her the freedom to fund whatever she chooses — ranging from stylish accessories to crucial apps to iCloud+ storage — setting her up to start her next life chapter on the right foot.

Shop Apple Gift Card here. Give the gift of everything Apple.

This post was created by Insider Studios with Apple Gift Card. 

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• For the first time, scientists observed a wild animal treating its own wound with a medicinal plant.
• A Sumatran orangutan, chewed up liana leaves and applied them to his wound. It healed in five days.
• This never-before-seen behavior goes to show just how similar we are to our primate cousins.

Rakus the orangutan seems to have a surprisingly decent grasp on first-aid.

He lives in Gunung Leuser National Park in South Aceh, Indonesia, where scientists from the Institute of Animal Behavior meticulously observe animals like Rakus, documenting their activities every two minutes.

A team of researchers led by evolutionary biologist Caroline Schuppli and cognitive biologist Isabelle Laumer were observing Rakus when they noticed he had a deep facial wound.

They believe it was caused by a neighboring male in what's known as a "long call battle," Laumer told Business Insider. Adult male orangutans like Rakus shout out "long calls" to attract females and let rival males know that this is their territory. However, sometimes, those verbal warnings attract males too, which can escalate to physical violence.

The research team heard a series of long calls before spotting Rakus' wound, leading them to believe he was involved in a fight with another male, Laumer told Business Insider.

But what they saw him do over the next several days was remarkable. They published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Nature this week.

Three days after he was hurt, Rakus began feeding on a species of liana called Akar Kuning, a potent medicinal plant that isn't a part of an orangutan's regular diet. The researchers observed him chewing the leaves and then applying them to his wound with his finger.

"This was, to our knowledge, the first time that a wild animal applied a potent healing plant to his own wounds," Laumer said.

Self-medication: a rare animal behavior

Scientists have seen animals self-medicate before. For example, a group of chimpanzees in Gabon has been observed applying insects to their wounds.

But scientists aren't sure whether these insects actually have medicinal properties, "so we don't know if this behavior is in any way efficient or functional," Laumer said. In other words, it's unclear if the chimp's behavior is intentional.

What Rakus did was different for a few reasons.

For starters, he selected a plant that his species rarely eats. Then he applied the mashed-up leaves precisely onto his wound. During this time, he also spent more than half the day sleeping, a behavior that can help wounds heal.

And, most importantly, his treatment actually worked.

"The wound healing was quite rapid, Laumer said. "Within four days, the wound was closed, and there are no signs of any infection."

All of this evidence suggests that this was an intentional self-medicating behavior.

Seeing something like this in the wild is incredibly rare, Laumer said, because they only occur in ancient, highly evolved species, and researchers need to be in the right place at the right time.

Happy accident, or learned behavior?

If Rakus was intentionally applying medication to his wound, as the evidence suggests, how did he know to do it? We can only guess, Laumer said, but there are a few possible explanations.

It could have been a case of individual innovation, when an animal invents a new behavior for the very first time. If that's the case, it may have been a total accident.

Rakus may have unintentionally touched his leaf-mush-covered finger to his face, and instantly felt the pain-relieving properties of the plant, Laumer explained. That would have encouraged him to repeat the behavior over and over again.

Or, it could be a learned behavior. Orangutans are known to be capable of social learning. They're often observed "peering" at their group members, which is the act of getting very close and watching what another orangutan is doing.

It's common for juvenile orangutans to exhibit this behavior with their mothers, for example, watching their every move to learn how to survive. So, it's possible that Rakus may have learned this behavior from another orangutan.

But, because this is the first time this behavior has ever been observed in orangutans, scientists can't say for sure why or how Rakus did it.

More alike than we are different

Rakus's behavior reminds us a lot of our own behavior with medicinal plants, which could help us understand where our knack for medicinal treatment first evolved.

Our earliest shared ancestor with orangutans dates back over 10 million years, so this behavior may originate from many millions of years ago.

"It also shows how similar we are, more similar than we are different," Laumer said. "It points to how amazing and incredibly smart these animals are, and how important it is to protect them."

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Over 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested at campuses throughout the US. Students are calling on universities to boycott companies that are working with Israel or are in support of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

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• Tesla's board urged shareholders in a video to vote for CEO Elon Musk's $47 billion pay package.
• A Delaware court had canceled his 2018 CEO performance award.
• The carmaker announced last month it would hold another vote to reinstate the pay package.

Tesla's board made yet another push to get CEO Elon Musk his $47 billion pay package — this time on-camera.

In a video posted on Friday, Robyn Denholm, the chair of Tesla's board of directors, urged the carmaker's shareholders to reapprove Musk's 2018 CEO performance award after a Delaware judge overturned it in court.

Musk's compensation was worth roughly $56 billion, though it's now worth about $47 billion due to Tesla's falling share price. But Musk's billions in extra pay were thrown out after a Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit arguing the payout was excessive.

The shareholder vote to bring back the pay for Musk, Denholm said, will be "incredibly important for the future of the company."

"We don't believe one judge's opinion should void the will of millions of votes cast by all of the owners of the company," the chairman told investors in the video. "So once again, we're asking you to make your voices heard by voting for the ratification of the 2018 performance award."

The chairman argued in the video that Musk fairly received the award, which shareholders set to incentivize the tech billionaire to hit "ambitious financial and operational targets" since Tesla reached its goals as of 2023.

She noted that the carmaker grew revenues from $11.8 billion to $96.8 billion and turned a $2.2 billion loss into a $15 billion profit under Musk's leadership.

These milestones, she said, increased the value of Tesla from $53.7 billion to more than $790 billion.

"His success is shared by all stockholders," Denholm said regarding Musk, adding that investors saw the value of their shares increase by 1,100%.

Last month, Tesla filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its plans to hold another shareholder vote on Musk's enormous compensation package, which includes stock options.

Tesla's leadership argued that Musk hasn't been properly paid for the work he did for Tesla over the past six years.

As of May 3rd, Musk is ranked the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $195 billion, according to Forbes' billionaire index.

Tesla's annual 2024 shareholder meeting is set to take place on June 13, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. central time.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication.

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• Trump is now the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee. 
• The former president is facing competing pressures to find his new running mate.
• Trump has a lot to choose from when it comes to either former rivals or MAGA allies.

Former President Donald Trump is seriously searching for his next running mate.

Trump, now officially the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, is looking to narrow down a large list of former rivals, lawmakers, and MAGA allies to find the potential next vice president.

The former president faced some pressure to announce his decision quickly. But for now, Trump appears likely to follow a more traditional timeline. NBC News reported that "there is a growing consensus" around a June announcement. The Republican National Convention is set to start July 15 in Milwaukee.

Trump has stoked speculation about his pick by publicly confirming half a dozen names on his list: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

Almost all of the top names will attend a major donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago this weekend. According to CNBC, Rubio, Vance, Scott, Burgum, Noem, and Donals will be "special guests." Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 4 House Republican, will also attend.

Noem's chances have cratered after her reveal that decades ago, she shot and killed her family's 14-month-old dog named Cricket due to its aggressive behavior. Even some Trump allies have questioned the governor's judgment for including the previously unknown story in her forthcoming memoir.

History shows that the ultimate selection could be surprising, so it's worth considering an even wider pool of potential names.

Here's a look at the names to watch as Trump continues his quest to retake the White House:

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina

The 58-year-old three-term senator endorsed Trump shortly before the New Hampshire primary. The South Carolinian also largely avoided criticizing Trump in a way that may have foreclosed him being on the ticket.

According to Politico, Scott talks with Trump or texts with the former president nearly every week.

Scott previously stoked speculation that he could be picked by telling the Wall Street Journal that he found his and Trump's contrasting styles "to be very complementary."

It's worth noting that while the former president has a growing list of congressional allies, the Senate has repeatedly been an issue for him.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy

Like some other candidates on this list, Ramaswamy is unlikely to be chosen as Trump's next VP. But that doesn't mean there aren't people out there who would like to see it.

Ramaswamy was perhaps the only candidate in the race who never dared to issue substantive criticisms of Trump, choosing instead to run as a staunch supporter of the former president who would carry that mantle forward.

He dropped out immediately after coming in 4th in Iowa, endorsing Trump and likely securing himself some sort of future position in MAGA world, if not Trump's actual cabinet.

But while Ramaswamy would be popular with some of Trump's most devoted followers, his penchant for conspiracy theorizing would likely be a liability in a general election.

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota

The second-term South Dakota governor was once, perhaps best known nationally for flouting COVID restrictions during the pandemic. That was until Noem decided to include a story in a forthcoming book about her decision decades ago to kill the family's 14-month-old dog after it proved to be untrainable and overly aggressive.

Since then, the consensus is that Noem has greatly damaged her prospects of becoming Trump's running mate.

Before the dog episode, Noem faced concerns after she posted a bizarre infomercial-esque video touting a dental procedure she received in Texas.

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida

Donalds, currently in just his second term, has risen rapidly in Congress. Conservatives opposed to Kevin McCarthy's leadership put the Florida Republican forth as an alternative to the then-longtime House GOP leader. Donalds was later added to the powerful House Steering Committee after he switched his support to McCarthy and McCarthy went on to become speaker.

That wasn't his only major flip. Donalds, who had previously been DeSantis' close ally, endorsed Trump last April, part of a string of Florida Republicans that snubbed their governor to back the former president. Donalds has also been floated as a potential successor to DeSantis, who cannot run for reelection in 2026 due to consecutive term limits.

Donalds was also among the six potential names Ingraham suggested to the former president. Trump responded by saying, "They're all good, they're all solid."

Like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donalds would also have to deal with potential concerns of sharing the same home state as Trump.

Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is likely the most surprising name on this list. A former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, she endorsed President Joe Biden after previously declaring Trump "unfit" to remain as president.

Gabbard's politics have changed drastically since then. In 2022, she announced that she was formerly leaving the Democratic Party. Over time, the four-term former congresswoman became a fixture on Fox News and at political events. According to The Washington Post, Gabbard has also advised the former president and his team about defense policy.

She was also among the six names Ingraham asked Trump about in terms of potential running mates.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio

Despite having just been elected to the US Senate last year, Vance has repeatedly been floated as a vice-presidential candidate for Trump.

And he's not saying no.

"Certainly if the president asked, I would have to think about it," Vance recently said while stumping for Trump in New Hampshire — though he also said that the "best place for me" is to remain in the US Senate.

A former venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling book "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance was once a "NeverTrumper" and a fierce critic of the former president. But he has since morphed into one of his staunchest acolytes in the Senate, and he's at the vanguard of a movement that seeks to reorient the party more towards the working class.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida

Rubio once viewed as the GOP's future, is reportedly gaining attention as a possible pick.

Rubio, like DeSantis, endured significant taunting and attacks when he opposed Trump during the 2016 primaries. But the pair have moved beyond the "Liddle Marco" jabs.

The Florida senator was a key ally during Trump's presidency, though Rubio did not support overturning the 2020 election results. After the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Rubio delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, arguing that it was "a terrible idea" to continue to raise objections to the results.

Now a third-term senator, Rubio, as NBC News pointed out, would also have more experience in federal office than Vice President Kamala Harris did when Biden tapped her to be his running mate.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

Greene, the fire-breathing conspiracy-minded congresswoman from Georgia, wouldn't exactly be a tent-expanding choice for the former president.

But that hasn't stopped her from talking up her own prospects.

"It's talked about frequently and I know my name is on a list," Greene told The Guardian in August. "But really my biggest focus right now is serving the district that elected me."

A second-term legislator with no major policy accomplishments, Greene wouldn't bring much to the equation when it comes to policy chops or broadening Trump's appeal. In fact, it could damage the ticket, given her extremely poor polling.

Greene has also alienated top party leaders over her push to oust Speaker Mike Johnson. Trump has repeatedly praised Johnson as he's tried to navigate Greene's challenge.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York

The chairwoman of the House GOP Conference, Stefanik is the highest-ranking official who is seen as a potential Trump pick.

The New York congresswoman, who ascended to her leadership position on the heels of Liz Cheney's ouster, has notably undergone a sharp shift when it comes to Trump, beginning with the 2019 impeachment hearings.

Trump has reportedly described Stefanik as a "killer" and a potential pick in private, and the congresswoman recently said she "would be honored to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration."

Stefanik has raised her national profile by grilling college presidents over their handling of students who have protested the Israel-Hamas war. The New Yorker has drilled into administrators whom she has accused of being too weak in their response to antisemitism.

Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama

Britt quickly built her profile before delivering the Republican Party's official response to Biden's State of the Union address.

Britt's response was widely panned, including by some Republicans. NBC's "Saturday Night Live" enlisted Scarlett Johansson to impersonate the freshman senator.

At just 42, Britt could become one of the youngest vice presidents in recent memory. Only Dan Quayle, then a US senator from Indiana, would have been slightly younger. Quayle was 41 when he began his vice presidency under President George H.W. Bush.

Britt has made her age and the fact she is a mother of school-age children a key selling point in her political career.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas

No one on this list knows Trump like Sanders. As his second White House press secretary, Sanders turned her turn at the podium into a governorship. As Arkansas governor, she's pursued an array of conservative policies.

She has endorsed Trump's campaign, but she has hinted that she wouldn't be interested in returning to the White House as vice president.

"Look, I absolutely love the job I have. I think it's one of the best jobs I could ever ask for, and I am honored to serve as governor, and I hope I get to do it for the next seven years," Sanders previously told CBS News.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia

Youngkin, 57, unlike the other governors on this list, has shown he can win a competitive state. The former private equity maven shocked political pundits by narrowly winning the Virginia governor's race in 2021. But Youngkin won in large part by ignoring Trump.

The Virginian's political stock has also declined in the wake of disappointing state legislative elections that saw Democrats gain full control of the statehouse in Richmond. Trump might honestly be more concerned that Youngkin has ties to Jeff Roe, a former Cruz advisor, who left Youngkin's orbit to lead a pro-DeSantis super PAC that ended disastrously.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida

Trump and his allies spent over a year ruthlessly attacking DeSantis. It was only toward the end of his disappointing primary that the 45-year-old began to return fire.

DeSantis did endorse Trump immediately after dropping out before New Hampshire, but the question remains if either side would want to repair their political alliance.

There appeared to be a brief peace, but that was thrown into after a top Trump campaign official tore into DeSantis. The public attack was in response to a report that DeSantis privately expressed concern that Trump might resort to "identity politics" when selecting his vice president.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley

Haley, who has remained clear her campaign will continue, has repeatedly said she's not interested in being anyone's vice president. Trump's choice of Mike Pence illustrates that he could tap someone to unite the party, but it's clear the former president is nowhere near happy with how that marriage ended.

Haley's biggest strength would be her effort to appeal to independent voters. She could also hopefully repair Trump's long-running struggles in the nation's suburbs. It's clear, though, that her decision to keep campaigning is starting to grate on Trump.

Biden has also shown greater interest in bringing Haley's voters than Trump.

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• I tried Chili's Big Smasher burger, the chain's first new burger in three years.
• The half-pound burger comes with lettuce, crunchy pickles, and a creamy Thousand Island dressing.
• The burger was juicy on the inside but had a mouthwatering, crispy crust on the outside.

Chili's just came out with its first new burger in three years in the hopes of competing with fast-food chains like McDonald's.

The burger, which launched on April 29, has similar ingredients to a Big Mac but twice the meat. It's available for $10.99 when included in the chain's value meal — something the chain is advertising to attract value-driven customers as fast-food prices climb.

I tried the burger for the first time at Chili's headquarters in Dallas a few weeks before its official launch. After it landed in restaurants nationwide, I tried it again at my local Chili's.

Here's what I thought of Chili's new Big Smasher burger.

I tried the Big Smasher for the first time at Chili's headquarters in Dallas a few weeks before its official launch on April 29.

I was invited to Chili's headquarters to try the brand's newest burger and other new menu items in development.

I made the burger myself, hand-smashing the half-pound patty with a large iron and arranging the toppings on the freshly buttered bun.

I was really impressed by the juicy yet crispy burger when I tried it in the company's test kitchen, but I wanted to see if I'd be just as blown away trying it in an actual restaurant, like any other customer.

To get a more realistic experience, I also tried it at my nearest Chili's after its launch.

I was looking forward to heading back to a Chili's restaurant. I went to Chili's for the first time last year, and I have been back several times since then, both for work-related taste tests and just to hang out with friends.

I live in Brooklyn, New York, so the closest Chili's restaurant is located in Glendale, about a 20-minute drive from my apartment.

When I arrived at around 5:30 p.m. on a weekday, the restaurant was already filled with customers.

For a limited time, the burger is included in Chili's 3 For Me value deal, which is how I ordered it.

The Big Smasher starts at around $12.99 on its own, but the price differs slightly by location. At my local Chili's, the burger cost $14.39, excluding tax.

This meant that ordering the burger as part of the 3 For Me was a no-brainer because the deal starts at $10.99, excluding tax.

With the deal, you get an appetizer like bottomless chips and salsa, a drink, and an entrée. I decided to add a margarita instead of a bottomless soft drink to my order, which added an additional $3.99.

The burger comes topped with shredded lettuce, diced red onions, pickles, American cheese, and Thousand Island dressing.

I went with fries as my side, but you can also choose from options like mashed potatoes, rice, and steamed broccoli.

The ingredients burger are similar to a Big Mac, but I've admittedly never been a fan of the iconic fast-food burger. I find it too bready, and the patties too thin. So I was excited to see if this similar burger would correct those personal qualms I have with the fast-food staple.

The star of the show truly was the burger patty.

The burger was juicy and slightly pink, but it had a delicious char on the outside. The cheese was perfectly melted onto the patty, but it didn't drip from the burger.

The burger patty was also thicker than I expected.

The burger patty weighs about a half pound, which is thicker than most fast-food burgers. I also thought this was one of the best chain restaurant burgers I've ever had because it was so classic.

While it didn't have all the bells and whistles like bacon, barbecue sauce, and vegetables piled high on this burger, that's what I really liked about it.

Each ingredient complemented and didn't overpower the others, from the fresh-tasting shredded lettuce to the pickles, red onion pieces, and the layer of tangy Thousand Island sauce.

Time will tell if the Big Smasher wins over customers, but it certainly impressed me.

It's hard to say whether the Big Smasher will become as iconic as some of Chili's other menu items, namely the chain's baby back ribs and appetizers.

However, I thought the large, juicy burger was certainly good enough to take on fast-food staples like the Big Mac, as well as burgers available at other chain restaurants.

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