Hermit crabs hide into shells when confronted with potential dangers, including images presented on a monitor. We do not know, however, what hermit crabs can see and how they perceive different objects. We examined the hiding response of the Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus) to various stimuli presented on a monitor in seven experiments to explore whether crabs could discriminate different properties of a threatening digital image, including color, brightness, contrast, shape and orientation. We found crabs responded differently to expanding circles presented in wavelengths of light corresponding to what humans see as red, blue, and green. "Blue" stimuli elicited the strongest hiding response (Experiments 1, 2, & 7). "Blue" was also more effective than a gray stimulus of similar brightness (Experiment 3). Hermit crabs were sensitive to the amount of contrast between a stimulus and its background rather than absolute brightness of the stimulus (Experiment 4). Moreover, we did not find evidence that crabs could discriminate orientation (Experiment 6), and mixed evidence that they could discriminate stimulus shape (Experiments 5 & 7). These results suggest that the Caribbean hermit crab is sensitive to color features, but not spatial features, of a threatening object presented on a computer screen. This is the first study to use the hiding response of the hermit crab to examine its visual ability, and demonstrates that the hiding response provides a useful behavioral approach with which to study learning and discrimination in the hermit crab.

Optically active spin defects in wide bandgap semiconductors serve as a local sensor of multiple degrees of freedom in a variety of hard and soft condensed matter systems. Taking advantage of the recent progress on quantum sensing using van der Waals (vdW) quantum materials, here we report direct measurements of spin waves excited in magnetic insulator Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) by boron vacancy [Formula: see text] spin defects contained in few-layer-thick hexagonal boron nitride nanoflakes. We show that the ferromagnetic resonance and parametric spin excitations can be effectively detected by [Formula: see text] spin defects under various experimental conditions through optically detected magnetic resonance measurements. The off-resonant dipole interaction between YIG magnons and [Formula: see text] spin defects is mediated by multi-magnon scattering processes, which may find relevant applications in a range of emerging quantum sensing, computing, and metrology technologies. Our results also highlight the opportunities offered by quantum spin defects in layered two-dimensional vdW materials for investigating local spin dynamic behaviors in magnetic solid-state matters.

Lanthanides in the trivalent oxidation state are typically described using an ionic picture that leads to localized magnetic moments. The hierarchical energy scales associated with trivalent lanthanides produce desirable properties for e.g., molecular magnetism, quantum materials, and quantum transduction. Here, we show that this traditional ionic paradigm breaks down for praseodymium in the tetravalent oxidation state. Synthetic, spectroscopic, and theoretical tools deployed on several solid-state Pr⁴⁺-oxides uncover the unusual participation of 4f orbitals in bonding and the anomalous hybridization of the 4f¹ configuration with ligand valence electrons, analogous to transition metals. The competition between crystal-field and spin-orbit-coupling interactions fundamentally transforms the spin-orbital magnetism of Pr⁴⁺, which departs from the J_eff = 1/2 limit and resembles that of high-valent actinides. Our results show that Pr⁴⁺ ions are in a class on their own, where the hierarchy of single-ion energy scales can be tailored to explore new correlated phenomena in quantum materials.