Posts
May 24, 2013
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6:29 AM | Don’t Flush: Lifting the Lid on the Science of Poo and Wee by Richard & Mary Platt | Book Review
SUMMARY: Join the Poo Crew as they guide you through time in this craptastic and pissarific children's book that tells you about the many amazing uses for poo and wee! After relocating to Germany, I was initially intrigued, then amused, by The Shelf that is built into many German toilets. This shelf is designed so Germans can carefully inspect their fæces before flushing. What are they looking for? I wondered. Let's face it, most people -- children and quite a... Read more
May 23, 2013
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6:26 PM | Dog Bite Prevention 2013
It is Dog Bite Prevention week, and I am inspired to repeat a post I wrote last year about that topic. I don’t usually repeat blogs, but I’ve seen so much pain and suffering (and I don’t mean physical) over this issue that I am inspired to put it out into the universe once again. Several of you responded with some extremely thoughtful comments and interesting cases: It would be great to hear if you have any updates. Meanwhile, here’s my piece on preventing dog ... Read
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SUMMARY: A comic yet scientifically accurate "Where's Wally"-style examination of how the human body factory works. Everyone is curious to learn how their body works, but understanding the details can often be a daunting task. But a new children's book rises up to meet this challenge, and it does so admirably: Human Body Factory by Dan Green [Kingfisher – An imprint of Macmillan Children's Books, 2012; Amazon UK; Amazon US] The author compares the human body to a factory filled... Read more
May 22, 2013
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I have some exciting news to share: Today is the launch day for Accumulating Glitches, a blog I am co-authoring with Sedeer el-Showk! Accumulating Glitches is one of many new science blogs launching this week at Scitable (by Nature Education), and I encourage you to check them out. (A summary of them can be found here). In celebration of today's launch, I am sharing part of Sedeer's debut post, Do Species Really Exist? Although these two may look like different species, science says they are
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SUMMARY: This kit overcomes one of the main challenges for teaching anatomy by adopting a build-it-yourself approach. The book is concise, well-written and engaging and the kit is accurate and interesting and will provide many hours of enjoyment as children and adults work together to build the human body. Sometimes, the best way to learn is to wrap your hands around stuff and ... build it yourself! This perhaps is never more important than when trying to learn anatomy, which... Read more
May 21, 2013
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SUMMARY: crammed with gorgeous full-colour photographs and rich graphics, clear and concise writing, and large, easy-to-read font, this is the best chemistry primer I've ever read! Did you know that the bamboo lemur consumes enough cyanide daily to kill a human? ...that Paris green paint, which gets its colour from arsenic, was so toxic that it was used as a rat poison as well for painting masterpieces? ...that there is a lump of crystallised carbon (a diamond) that is 3,000... Read more
May 20, 2013
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8:31 PM | Massive Internet Issues
Hello everyone! My home internet connection has been having massive problems for over a week. I haven’t been able to stay connected long enough to get photos uploaded or anything posted (took SEVERAL tries to get the Wednesday photo through … Continue reading →
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Summary: Finally, what I know you've all been waiting for: the six shortlisted young people's science books have been selected and are now in the mail to hundreds of children across the UK who will select the winner of the 2013 Royal Society's Young People's Book Prize! The complete shortlist for the 2013 Royal Society's Young People's Science Book Award. Image courtesy of the Royal Society. Are you a scientist who was inspired to pursue your passion after reading a... Read more
May 19, 2013
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9:13 PM | Reflecting on Applied Animal Behavior
Time for reflection (By Wieselblitz)Hi Mia! Love the lavender research! Learning that dogs show different behaviors when exposed to different scents could help us prime environments to be associated with particular dog behaviors and moods (you noted that exposure to peppermint and rosemary are associated with activity and barking while exposure to lavender and chamomile bring out resting). At the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab, we have a new paper coming out soon in Learning and Motivation -- the
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Mason G., Clubb R., Latham N. & Vickery S. (2007). Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour?, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102 (3-4) 163-188. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2006.05.041
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May 16, 2013
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Remember the movie Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray wakes up every morning to repeat the same day, over and over? That is a bit of what it feels like to write about the value of benevolence in dog training, and the problems associated with aggressive, confrontational techniques. And yet, I just can’t stop, because there is still a flood of advice about using force and confrontation to correct a dog for ….. (fill in the blanks)…. because 1) misbehavior is a sign your dog ... […]
May 15, 2013
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SUMMARY: The newly-sequenced scarlet macaw genome will provide many important insights into avian and human biology, behaviours and genetics and will contribute to parrot conservation. Scarlet macaw, Ara macao, in flight.Image: Tambopata Research Center. [NOTE: This image has been altered; it has been cropped.] After many years of research into the behaviours, diseases, genetics and life history of scarlet macaws, a team of scientists have taken their studies to the next level. Christopher […]
Seabury C.M., Dowd S.E., Seabury P.M., Raudsepp T., Brightsmith D.J., Liboriussen P., Halley Y., Fisher C.A., Owens E. & Viswanathan G. & (2013). A Multi-Platform Draft de novo Genome Assembly and Comparative Analysis for the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao), PLoS ONE, 8 (5) e62415. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062415.s019
Treangen T.J. & Salzberg S.L. (2011). Repetitive DNA and next-generation sequencing: computational challenges and solutions, Nature Reviews Genetics, DOI: 10.1038/nrg3117
Ried T., Schröck E., Ning Y. & Wienberg J. (1998). Chromosome painting: a useful art, Human Molecular Genetics, 7 (10) 1619-1626. DOI: 10.1093/hmg/7.10.1619
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I am thrilled to announce that this month I am joining a new top-notch science blogging team at Scitable, Nature Education’s award-winning science education website! (But don’t worry, friends. I will continue to post here about animal physiology and behavior every Wednesday). Next week, Scitable will be launching eleven new blogs covering topics like neuroscience, genetics, oceanography, physics and more. I will be co-authoring an evolution blog called Accumulating Glitches together with
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Johnson, J., Trubl, P., Blackmore, V. & Miles, L. (2011). Male black widows court well-fed females more than starved females: silken cues indicate sexual cannibalism risk, Animal Behaviour, 82 (2) 383-390. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.05.018
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In my post on Friday I mentioned that I got to see a pipevine swallowtail laying her eggs on the woolly pipevine at work. Here’s proof! I took this with a point and shoot camera, so you can imagine how … Continue reading →
May 14, 2013
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7:43 AM | Are dolphins conscious?
We currently lack strong evidence for consciousness in dolphins suggests Professor Heidi Harley in her recently published review article appearing in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A. For some (perhaps most) cognitive scientists studying animals minds, this is not a particularly controversial conclusion – a borderline truism. For other scientists – and perhaps for nearly [...]
May 13, 2013
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12:20 PM | True Facts About The Dung Beetle | video
SUMMARY: A lovely blend of science, animals and humour, all rolled up into a short informative video. Dung beetle, probably Neomnematium sevoistra, in dry spiny forest close to Mangily, western Madagascar. Image: Axel Strauß, 2008 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic licenses). Today's video focuses on the dung beetle, those insects in the taxonomic superfamily Scarabaeoidea. These insects share a fondness for feces, subsisting either […]
May 11, 2013
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4:31 AM | Friday 5: Insects on Milkweed
I finally got Lightroom working on my computer again, so I’ve uploaded about three weeks worth of photos over the last few days. Three weeks of photos in my first ever real spring is a LOT of photos! But it … Continue reading →
May 10, 2013
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4:48 PM | Something To Chew On
Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, and dogs gotta chew. At least, that is my belief, backed up with virtually no research whatsoever. This belief is based on 1) understanding that the impressive teeth and jaw structure of a dog is the Swiss Army knife of dentition, able to tear, rip, shear and crunch without having to switch tools, 2) the inclusion of long chewing bouts in the natural behavior of canids, 3) that an internet search on “chewing in dogs” leads to a multitude ... Read
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(source)Hi Julie, WOW!Dogs in clothes. Corgis in bikinis at the beach. Greyhounds in onesies. We people do some weird things to our canine friends, no?! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy being dressed up in a padded outfit all day long, so I think I'll pass on sharing that experience with my dogs. As you said, cultural perceptions, ethics and expectations add a whole layer of extra consideration. It's not always easy to work out what dogs want or need. That's why I
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Wells D.L. (2009). Sensory stimulation as environmental enrichment for captive animals: A review, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 118 (1-2) 1-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2009.01.002
Graham L., Wells D.L. & Hepper P.G. (2005). The influence of olfactory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 91 (1-2) 143-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2004.08.024
Wells D.L. (2006). Aromatherapy for travel-induced excitement in dogs, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 229 (6) 964-967. DOI: 10.2460/javma.229.6.964
MOTOMURA N., SAKURAI A. & YOTSUYA Y. (2001). REDUCTION OF MENTAL STRESS WITH LAVENDER ODORANT, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 93 (3) 713-718. DOI: 10.2466/pms.2001.93.3.713
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May 08, 2013
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Most birds build their own nests and incubate their own eggs. However, some birds like the cuckoo have managed to get around this inconvenience by simply laying their eggs in the nests of other species and letting someone else do the hard work of keeping the eggs warm and protected until the chick hatches. The [...]
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For those of you interested in marine science and boat-based field research: Fall 2013 Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Research Internship Program Description The IMMS Research Internship Program is designed as a way for students interested in a career in … Continue reading →
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6:00 PM | Alphabet Bird Collection | Book Review
Summary: A delightful book for baby birders that is crammed with poetry, information and gorgeous paintings of birds! Oh yeah, it teaches the letters of the English alphabet, too. Magpie. Image: acrylic painting by Shelli Ogilvy (2008). Do you wish to share your love of birds, art and books with (your) children? If so, then you will really enjoy the Alphabet Bird Collection, a lovely children's book that was written and illustrated by Shelli Ogilvy [Sasquatch Books, 2009; Amazon UK;... Read more
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1:50 PM | Thanks Mom!
Like Mother, like baby! Photo from freedigitalphotos.net.Moms give us so much more than we ever give them credit for. Biologically speaking, we all have a mom and a dad (unless you’re a flatworm or some other species that can reproduce without sex) that provide us with one of each chromosome type (our chromosomes contain our genes, commonly thought of as our “biological blueprints”). So it makes sense that we tend to think of ourselves as being half-our-mom and half-our-dad. But not so!
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BERNARDO, J. (1996). Maternal Effects in Animal Ecology, Integrative and Comparative Biology, 36 (2) 83-105. DOI: 10.1093/icb/36.2.83
Wolf, J. & Wade, M.J. (2009). What are maternal effects (and what are they not)?, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 364 1107-1115.
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Please NOTE: This blog is participation in a MENTAL HEALTH MONTH event sharing mental health heroes in connection to Mental Health Humors Cartoon-a-thon. Please help us bring mental illness awareness and eduction all month long by sharing this post with your social network, friend and family. Thank You. Christina “Christi” Huff 2013 Mental Health Hero [...]
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I’ve had massive problems getting photos uploaded from my camera’s memory card to my computer (think the card is on its last legs…), so I haven’t been able to do the last few posts I’ve wanted to do. Hopefully I’ll … Continue reading →
May 07, 2013
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Please NOTE: This blog is participation in a MENTAL HEALTH MONTH event sharing mental health heroes in connection to Mental Health Humors Cartoon-a-thon. Please help us bring mental illness awareness and eduction all month long by sharing this post with your social network, friend and family. Thank You. David Speicher 2013 Mental Health Hero Cartoon-A-Thon [...]
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Please NOTE: This blog is participation in a MENTAL HEALTH MONTH event sharing mental health heroes in connection to Mental Health Humors Cartoon-a-thon. Please help us bring mental illness awareness and eduction all month long by sharing this post with your social network, friend and family. Thank You. Kathi Stringer2013 Mental Health Hero Cartoon-A-Thon Drawing [...]
May 05, 2013
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2:16 PM | My Second Appearance on Dom’s SketchCast
Dom invited me back on his podcast. Listen for more meandering conversation about human and animal psychology!
