Dolphin intelligence is under fire, but are these arguments over brain size relevant in the face of
overwhelming behavioral evidence? Dolphins have been known to display almost all of the qualities which we would consider uniquely human, qualities that we would consider a mark of ‘higher’ intelligence. They are
tool users, they are
highly creative (perhaps even
artistic), they enjoy recreational and
social activities, from surfing (either
on waves or around the
prow of boats) to
sex, and they have proven
time and
time again that they are
self-aware. They’ve also formed symbiotic
relationships with fisherman, and recent reports suggest that dolphins even have
names for each other. But perhaps Douglas Adams said it best in the
Hitchhiker’s Guide: “Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.”
posted by heylight
on Sep 4, 2006 -
44 comments
Altered Oceans: A Primeval Tide of Toxins The fireweed began each spring as tufts of hairy growth and spread across the seafloor fast enough to cover a football field in an hour. When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos.
posted by MetaMonkey
on Aug 1, 2006 -
32 comments
The Human Speechome Project - "A baby is to be
monitored by a network of microphones and video cameras for 14 hours a day, 365 days a year, in an effort to unravel the seemingly miraculous process by which children acquire language.". Selected video
clips.
Paper (PDF, 750KB). To test hypotheses of how children learn, Prof Deb Roy's team at MIT will develop machine learning systems that “step into the shoes” of his son by processing the sights and sounds of three years of life at home. Total storage required:
1.4 petabytes.
posted by Gyan
on Jul 23, 2006 -
21 comments
Against Pandas: "Pandas are endangered because they are utterly incompetent... Pandas are badly designed, undersexed, overpaid and overprotected. They went up an evolutionary cul-de-sac and it is too late to reverse."
posted by kliuless
on Jul 2, 2006 -
57 comments
Nature has a somewhat technical but free
supplement on stem cells (alongwith a podcast and related
blog).
posted by Gyan
on Jul 2, 2006 -
6 comments
Today in
weird animals :
An international group of scientists has described an animal that provides nutrition for its young by letting them peel off and eat its skin.
posted by Afroblanco
on Apr 17, 2006 -
30 comments
Owls are rad. Sometimes they look kind of
metallic and scary, sometimes
wise, sometimes
puzzled, and sometimes like
skulls, (
Index); sometimes they
sound like dogs or pigs, sometimes they
sound like a little train, sometimes they
sound alarmed, (
Index of MP3s); sometimes you come across an
extensive gallery of Central and North American owls with
pictures,
ranges,
video, and even a description of
the '04-'05 Northern Owl Invasion; sometimes it's a
dynamic range map of Owls of the Western Hemisphere; sometimes it's the
OwlCam homepage with
downloadable owl movies, sometimes it's a
series of articles on all things owl; sometimes at
BiologyBase it's a printable
owl sighting lifelist, sometimes it's
Ruru, the morepork, New Zealand's native owl at
NZBirds. Or,
w0t! w0t!, it's
attracting barn owls and
building nest boxes at World Owl Trust.
Previous MeFi birding FPP.
posted by OmieWise
on Mar 28, 2006 -
34 comments
Nectivorous!!! Those that eat nectar:
hummingbirds,
honeyeaters,
miners,
honeycreepers,
spinebills,
wattlebirds,
friarbirds,
lorikeets,
warblers,
some
parrots,
and of course
some bats!!!
Many plants are adapted to such
creatures!
posted by beerbajay
on Mar 21, 2006 -
18 comments
ARTnatomy: Anatomical Basis of Facial Expression Learning Tool. See how all the different muscles in your face work. Flash interface; via
Drawn!
posted by Gator
on Mar 15, 2006 -
10 comments
Deep Time. “Once we realize that
Deep Time can never support narratives of evolution, we are forced to accept that virtually everything we thought we knew about evolution is wrong.”
It’s not the latest salvo from the proponents of intelligent design... [more inside]
posted by nanojath
on Nov 25, 2005 -
65 comments
The Aquatic Ape Theory (often referred to as the AAT or AAH) says humans went through an aquatic or semi-aquatic stage in our evolution and that this accounts for many features seen in human anatomy and physiology. Using the principle of convergent evolution, it says that life in an aquatic environment explains these features, and that a transition from ape to hominid in a non-aquatic environment cannot. See also:
BBC (excellent),
Wikipedia,
Google.
posted by grumblebee
on Sep 20, 2005 -
48 comments
Genes Reveal Recent Human Brain Evolution. Two important
new papers in the journal
Science (available
here) from the evolutionary geneticist and rising star, Bruce T. Lahn (see
this recent profile from
The Scientist), are potentially the tips of some very large icebergs. The papers document how two genes related to brain properties that underwent strong selection during the course of hominid evolution, have
continued undergoing strong selection since the emergence of anatomically modern man. The papers wonderfully illustrate how biological evolution is an
ongoing process as well as the
artificial distinction between “micro” and “macro” evolution, and promise to be controversial for two reasons: First, the brain genes underwent the strongest selection during
two periods of cultural and technological efflorescence (roughly 37,000 and 5,800 years ago). Second, the genes are distributed very differently in modern human population groups, existing at very high frequencies in some groups and being very rare in others, ensuring that the modern function of these genes will be a source of more research and much impassioned debate. More
observations from anthropologist John Hawks.
posted by Jason Malloy
on Sep 8, 2005 -
54 comments
EMBO's report on Time and Aging (free access) contains an essay wherein the author, Karin Knorr Cetina, from the University of Konstanz, Germany, argues that death and aging used to be major issues that defined what it means to be human and helped us find our place in society by showing us the limits of what is possible to achieve as a human. With the advances in science, particularly
biological advances in slowing aging and
technological advances in extending human function, we no longer accept our fate. Instead of accepting that we all grow old and die so we should take our place in society, with the expectation that if we contribute, society will take care of us, too, we now have promises being made by science that death and aging are no longer inevitable. Where are we headed, then? If we can no longer find our place by finding the limits of achievement and accepting our place within them, how do we work as a collective?
posted by Mr. Gunn
on Jul 25, 2005 -
15 comments
