From Wired UK:
The researchers found that thrill-seeking is not limited to humans and other vertebrates. The brains of honeybees that were more likely than others to seek adventure exhibited distinct patterns of gene activity in molecular pathways known to be associated with thrill-seeking in humans.
The findings present a new perspective on honeybee communities, which were thought to be highly-regimented and comprised of a colony of interchangeable workers taking on a few specific roles to serve their queen. [...]
Robinson and his team studies two behaviors that looked like novelty seeking: scouting for new nest sites and scouting for food. When a colony outgrows its living quarters, the swarm must hunt for a new home. Around five percent of the swarm goes hunting for new lodgings. These “nest scouts” are around 3.4 times more likely than their peers to also become food scouts, researchers discovered.
“There is a gold standard for personality research and that is if you show the same tendency in different contexts, then that can be called a personality trait,” Robinson said.
Wired Science: Honeybees May Have Personality
(via James Governor)
Photo by Gilles San Martin
From http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Technoccult/~3/PcNU6B_BCqw/
From ABC News:
News has come from France that some captive-born dolphins there have been recorded “talking in their sleep” — and talking in Whale, no less, not Dolphinese.
The scientists involved say this would be the first time that dolphins have been recorded mimicking sounds a significant period of time after hearing them.
ABC News: Dolphins Reported Talking Whale in Their Sleep
(via Cole Tucker)
From http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Technoccult/~3/_UHpxgEEFME/
maliciousglamour:
Madonna Rides Again
W, June 2006
Photographer: Steven Klein
From http://morbidfashion.tumblr.com/post/15515006067
For decades, paleontologists have puzzled over a fossil collection of nine Triassic icthyosaurs (Shonisaurus popularis) discovered in Nevada’s Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Researchers initially thought that this strange grouping of 45-foot-long marine reptiles had either died en masse from a poisonous plankton bloom or had become stranded in shallow water.
But recent geological analysis of the fossil site indicates that the park was deep underwater when these shonisaurs swam the prehistoric seas. So why were their bones laid in such a bizarre pattern? A new theory suggests that a 100-foot-long cephalopod arranged these bones as a self-portrait after drowning the reptiles. And no, we’re not talking about Cthulhu.
i09: Giant prehistoric krakens may have sculpted self-portraits using ichthyosaur bones
(via Disinfo)
See also: Wikipedia entry for Kraken
Update: I thought the absurdity of this (there is no actual evidence, just speculation on the part of the researchers) was obvious, but apparently I was wrong (thanks to Liddell for this link). It’s a lot like that bacteria in space rocks story from a while back – it’s based on someone looking at some pictures and saying what they might represent. There’s no actual discovery here.
From http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Technoccult/~3/jRyZkFCevZc/
Ed Wray was terrified the first time he encountered a masked monkey. Having lived and worked in Jakarta as a freelance photographer for years, he was accustomed to seeing the animals, cruelly leashed by chains, jumping through hoops or riding trikes on the sidewalks. But for Wray, the mask was a terrifying twist.
“When I first saw a monkey with a rubber baby doll’s head stuck over its head as a mask, it immediately struck me as horrifying and beyond weird.” Wray said. “Something about the combination of the doll head – which I think is scary looking to begin with – and a long tail just struck a chord in me.”
Time: The Masked Monkeys of Indonesia
(Thanks Bill!)
From http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/05/27/the-masked-monkeys-of-indonesia/
Herzing created an open-ended framework for communication, using sounds, symbols and props to interact with the dolphins. The goal was to create a shared, primitive language that would allow dolphins and humans to ask for props, such as balls or scarves.
Divers demonstrated the system by pressing keys on a large submerged keyboard. Other humans would throw them the corresponding prop. In addition to being labeled with a symbol, each key was paired with a whistle that dolphins could mimic. A dolphin could ask for a toy either by pushing the key with her nose, or whistling.
Herzing’s study is the first of its kind. No one has tried to establish two-way communication in the wild.
“This is an authentic way to approach this, she’s not imposing herself on them,” said Lori Marino, the Emory University biologist who, with Hunter College psychologist Diana Reiss, pioneered dolphin self-recognition studies. “She’s cultivated a relationship with these dolphins over a very long time and it’s entirely on their terms. I think this is the future of working with dolphins.”
Wired: To Talk With Aliens, Learn to Speak With Dolphins
(via Bianca Lee)
From http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Technoccult/~3/OL1bLQEDvvg/
