Skip to main content

Home/ SciByte/ Group items tagged dog

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Mars Base

Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...ogs-animals-science-mind-smart

scibyte83 dog

shared by Mars Base on 19 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of food, are more likely to disobey the command in a dark room than in a lit room
  • The one thing we can say is that dogs really have specialized skills in reading human communication
  • This is special in dogs
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • recruited 84 dogs, all of which were more than a year old, motivated by food, and comfortable with both strangers and dark rooms
  • The team then set up experiments in which a person commanded a dog not to take a piece of food on the floor
  • repeated the commands in a room with different lighting scenarios ranging from fully lit to fully dark
  • They found that the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food—and steal it more quickly—when the room was dark
  • the dog's behavior depended on whether the food was in the light or not, suggesting that the dog made its decision based on whether the human could see them approaching the food
  • were thinking what affected the dog was whether they saw the human, but seeing the human or not didn't affect the behavior
  • The study of dog cognition suddenly began about 15 years ago
  • Many of the new dog studies are variations on research done with chimpanzees, bonobos, and even young children
  • Selectively bred as companions for thousands of years, dogs are especially attuned to human emotions
  • are better at reading human cues than even our closest mammalian relatives
  • research reveals more and more insight into the minds
  • We still don't know just how smart they are
  • researchers are interested in whether the dog has a theory of mind
  • theory of mind is "an understanding that others have different perspective, knowledge, feelings than we do
  • Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought
Mars Base

We Didn't Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us. - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...tion-science-wolf-wolves-human

scibyte85 dog

shared by Mars Base on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • hunting hypothesis, that humans used wolves to hunt, doesn't hold up either
  • Humans were already successful hunters without wolves, more successful than every other large carnivore.
  • The most common assumption is that some hunter-gatherer with a soft spot for cuteness found some wolf puppies and adopted them.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • But when we look back at our relationship with wolves throughout history, this doesn't really make sense
  • the wolf was domesticated at a time when modern humans were not very tolerant of carnivorous competitors.
  • Most likely, it was wolves that approached us, not the other way around, probably while they were scavenging around garbage dumps on the edge of human settlements.
  • only the ones that were bold and friendly would have been tolerated.
  • Domestication gave them splotchy coats, floppy ears, wagging tails.
  • In only several generations, these friendly wolves would have become very distinctive from their more aggressive relatives.
  • Changes also happened to their psychology. These protodogs evolved the ability to read human gestures.
  • the ability of dogs to read human gestures is remarkable
  • chimpanzees and bonobos-can't read our gestures as readily as dogs can.
  • Dogs are remarkably similar to human infants in the way they pay attention to us.
  • People who had dogs during a hunt would likely have had an advantage over those who didn't.
  • Even today, tribes in Nicaragua depend on dogs to detect prey
  • Moose hunters in alpine regions bring home 56 percent more prey when they are accompanied by dogs
  • In the Congo, hunters believe they would starve without their dogs
  • Dogs would also have served as a warning system, barking at hostile strangers from neighboring tribes
Mars Base

Dog sniffs out grammar | Psychology | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...Dog_sniffs_out_grammar

scibyte95

shared by Mars Base on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • Chaser isn’t just a 9-year-old border collie
  • She’s a grammar hound.
  • In experiments directed by her owner
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Chaser demonstrated her grasp of the basic elements of grammar by responding correctly to commands such as “to ball take Frisbee” and its reverse, “to Frisbee take ball.”
  • The dog had previous, extensive training to recognize classes of words including nouns, verbs and prepositions
  • Throughout the first three years of Chaser’s life, Pilley and a colleague trained the dog to recognize and fetch more than 1,000 objects by name
  • researchers also taught Chaser the meaning of different types of words, such as verbs and prepositions
  • Chaser learned that phrases such as “to Frisbee” meant that she should take whatever was in her mouth to the named object.
  • Exactly how the dog gained her command of grammar is unclear
  • suspects that
  • first mentally linked each of two nouns she heard in a sentence to objects in her memory. Then
  • held that information in mind while deciding which of two objects to bring to which of two other objects.
  • Chaser started sentence training at age 7. She stood facing a pair of objects she knew by name
  • An experimenter would say, for instance, “to ball take Frisbee.” In initial trials, the experimenter pointed at each item while saying its name.
  • After several weeks of training, two experiments conducted
  • had to choose an object from one pair to carry to an object from the other pair
  • read commands that included words for those objects. Only some of those words had been used during sentence training
  • To see whether Chaser grasped that grammar could be used flexibly
  • student also read sentences in the reversed form of “take sugar to decoy.”
  • In 28 of 40 attempts, Chaser grabbed the correct item in her mouth and dropped it next to the correct target.
  • Another experiment tested Chaser’s ability to understand commands when she couldn’t see the objects at first
  • with two objects behind her at the other end of the bed
  • After hearing a command, Chaser turned around and nabbed one of the objects.
  • then ran to the living room and delivered the item to one of another pair of objects. She succeeded on all 12 trials
Mars Base

S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...-scientists-clone-mammoth.html

scibyte38 mammoth

shared by Mars Base on 14 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Russian and South Korean scientists have signed a deal on joint research intended to recreate a woolly mammoth, an animal which last walked the earth some 10,000 years ago.
  • The deal was signed by Vasily Vasiliev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic
  • controversial cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, on Tuesday.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into creating human stem cells was found in 2006 to have been faked
  • Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, in 2005, has been verified by experts
  • Sooam said it would launch research this year if the Russian university can ship the remains. The Beijing Genomics Institute will also take part in the project
  • South Korean foundation said it would transfer technology to the Russian university
  • first and hardest mission is to restore mammoth cells
  • scientists in trying to find well-preserved tissue with an undamaged gene
  • replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's somatic cells,
  • embryos with mammoth DNA could be produced and planted into elephant wombs for delivery
  • Sooam will use an Indian elephant for its somatic cell nucleus transfer
  • South Korean experts have previously cloned animals including a cow, a cat, dogs, a pig and a wolf
Mars Base

Now Boston Dynamics' BigDog can lift and toss (w/ video) - 0 views

phys.org/...ynamics-bigdog-toss-video.html

scibyte85 BosonDynamics

shared by Mars Base on 03 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • BigDog has a new appendage to its torso that resembles a head.
  • Boston Dynamics is giving BigDog an enhanced ability to rely on its entire body for throwing heavy objects around, with an appendage powerful enough to lift and throw the objects aside.
  • the entire body goes to work with fancy step-work to throw fifty-pound objects over its shoulder,
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • grasping a block with "jaws" and flinging it out of the way.
  • The idea is to make BigDog successfully cope with heavy objects that need to be hurled out of the way
  • BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule; about 3 feet long, 2.5 feet tall and weighs 240 lbs
  • BigDog can run at four miles per hour, walk across the roughest terrain, make its way through mud and snow (its four legs are articulated like an animal
  • The robot carries 300-plus pound loads. According to Boston Dynamics, BigDog covered 12.8 miles without stopping or refueling, setting a world record for legged vehicles.
Mars Base

Children with autism show increased positive social behaviors when animals are present - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...positive-social-behaviors.html

scibyte84

shared by Mars Base on 28 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • authors compared how 5-13 year old children with ASD interacted with adults and typically-developing peers in the presence of two guinea pigs compared to toys
  • The presence of an animal can significantly increase positive social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
  • in the presence of animals, children with ASD demonstrated more social behaviors like talking, looking at faces and making physical contact
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • also more receptive to social advances from their peers in the presence of the animals than they were when playing with toys
  • also increased instances of smiling and laughing, and reduced frowning, whining and crying behaviors in children with ASD more than having toys did.
  • Previous studies have shown that people are more likely to receive overtures of friendship from strangers when walking a dog than when walking alone
  • similar effects have been observed for people holding smaller animals like rabbits or turtles
  • authors suggest that this 'social lubricant' effect of animals on human social interactions can be particularly important for individuals with socio-emotional disabilities
  • the ability of an animal to help children with ASD connect to adults may help foster interactions with therapists, teachers or other adult figures
  • animal-assisted interventions may have applications in the classroom as well,
  • For children with ASD, the school classroom can be a stressful and overwhelming environment
  • If an animal can reduce this stress or artificially change children's perception
  • then a child with ASD may feel more at ease and open to social approach behaviors
Mars Base

Russian scientists make rare find of 'blood' in mammoth - 0 views

phys.org/...ntists-rare-blood-mammoth.html

scibyte96 WollyMammoth

shared by Mars Base on 30 May 13 - No Cached
  • Russian scientists claimed
  • the rare find could boost
  • chances of cloning
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • Russian scientists claimed
  • they have discovered blood in the carcass of a woolly mammoth
  • An expedition led by Russian scientists earlier this month uncovered the well-preserved carcass of a female mammoth on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean
  • the head of the expedition, said the animal died at the age of around 60 some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago
  • it was the first time that an old female had been found.
  • what was
  • surprising was that the carcass was so well preserved that it still had blood and muscle tissue.
  • broke the ice beneath her stomach, the blood flowed out from there, it was very dark
  • the muscle tissue is also red, the colour of fresh meat
  • the lower part of the carcass was very well preserved as it ended up in a pool of water that later froze over. The upper part of the body including the back and the head are believed to have been eaten by predators
  • The discovery
  • gives new hope to researchers in their quest to bring the woolly mammoth back to life.
  • gives
  • a really good chance of finding live cells which can help
  • clone a mammoth
  • Previous mammoths have not had such well-preserved tissue
  • Last year,
  • signed a deal with cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, who in 2005 created the world's first cloned dog.
  • mammoth specialists from South Korea, Russia and the United States are expected to study the remains which the Russian scientists are now keeping at an undisclosed northern location
Mars Base

Mussel Glue Could Help Repair Birth Defects - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...glue-could-help-repair-bi.html

scibyte83 BirthDefects

shared by Mars Base on 19 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • researcher said he has used the mollusk’s tricks to develop medical applications
  • include a biocompatible glue that could one day seal fetal membranes, allowing prenatal surgeons to repair birth defects without triggering dangerous premature labor
  • mussels secrete liquid proteins that harden into a solid, water-resistant glue
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • Not even Super Glue will stick in a fish aquarium because a layer of water forms that keeps the two surfaces from bonding
  • mussels somehow elbow the water aside and bind themselves to rocks anyway
  • Over 30 years, Waite’s team has uncovered the basis of this remarkable ability
  • parts of the proteins that face out toward the hard surface. It enables liquid holdfast proteins to solidify rapidly and stick flawlessly to wet and salty surfaces
  • If I were to list the desired properties for medical adhesives, they would look exactly the same
  • colleagues have created a synthetic, thread-like polymer called polyethylene glycol that mimics the mussel protein
  • To see if the compound worked in live animals, a veterinary surgeon collaborating with Messersmith's team made a 2.5-centimeter incision in the carotid artery of a dog and placed four stitches along the length of that incision to hold it in place
  • With the stitches alone, the incision bled when the surgeon pressed it.
  • just 20 seconds after the mussel-based glue was applied, the artery was sealed and didn’t bleed.
  • recently
  • team began testing its glue on fetal membranes
  • For the past few decades, surgeons have begun surgically repairing birth defects like spina bifida while a fetus is still in utero
  • the process is risky because the surgery risks rupturing the fetal membrane prematurely, sending the mother into premature labor.
  • There are no good adhesives on the market for surgeons to repair such fetal-membrane tears
  • in recent, unpublished experiments in rabbits, Messersmith and colleagues found that after a veterinary surgeon poked a 3.5-mm hole in the animal’s fetal membrane, the new, mussel-inspired glue readily sealed up the puncture
  • without the glue, only 40% of the fetal rabbits survived the surgery, but with the glue, 60% did.
  • In another recent result
  • researchers chemically altered the polyethylene glycol polymer so that the glue would shrink when it hardened
  • This could counter tissue swelling during surgery,
  • fetal surgeons working with Messersmith are testing whether the glue can help reseal the tissue surrounding the spinal cord to repair a serious birth defect known spinal bifida in rabbits
Mars Base

Europe OKs Funding for Mars Mission with Russia | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/mars-mars-mission-funding.html

scibyte39 mars

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • European Space Agency (ESA
  • agreed to continue funding a Mars telecommunications orbiter and atmospheric gas analyzer mission for launch in 2016
  • Russian Proton rocket donated by the Russian space agency
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • ExoMars is a two-mission project that is considered as a single program at ESA
  • council decision removes an immediate problem for ExoMars, it does not solve the longer-term funding issue that has dogged the project for years
  • ESA wants to have a high-resolution imager on their 2016 mission, but the hitch is they need a commitment from NASA
  • ESA official said that with ExoMars now taking on more scientific instruments, many provided by Russia
Mars Base

Cheetah Breaks Speed Record-Beats Usain Bolt by Seconds - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...rd-science-usain-bolt-olympics

scibyte58 cheetahs

shared by Mars Base on 04 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Sarah the cheetah has shattered the world record for the standing 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 5.95 seconds—making Olympian Usain Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds look positively stodgy by comparison
  • USA Track & Field-certified course established by the Cincinnati Zoo, the 11-year-old cheetah was radar-timed at up to 61 miles (98 kilometers) an hour
  • National Geographic magazine
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • featured in its November issue, which will include unprecedented high-speed pictures
  • June 20 sprint is the fastest timed 100 meters ever run by anything on the planet
  • five cheetahs each completed several sprints a day
  • bolting out of the back of one of the zoo's vans and chasing fluffy toy dogs as they were pulled across a meadow on a high-speed cord.
  • used to long sprints, regularly running for zoo crowds
  • not only good for the individual cats, who get much-needed exercise, but good for the species as well:
  • zoo's track-star cheetahs have helped raise over a million U.S. dollars for conservation
  • almost certain that cheetahs in the wild—lean, hungry, chasing down antelopes for their own survival or that of their cubs—have run considerably faster.
Mars Base

Darpa's Legged Squad Support System (LS3) to lighten troops' load - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...s-legged-squad-ls3-troops.html

FebMedia Darpa

shared by Mars Base on 09 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Darpa's Legged Squad Support System (LS3)
  • The Army has identified physical overburden as one of its top five science and technology challenges
  • DARPA is developing a highly mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), to integrate with a squad of Marines or Soldiers.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Recently the LS3 prototype underwent its first outdoor exercise
  • Over the course of the next 18 months, DARPA plans to complete development of and refine key capabilities to ensure LS3 is able to support dismounted squads of warfighters.
  • Features to be tested and validated include
  • ability to carry 400lbs on a 20-mile trek in 24-hours without being refueled
  • refinement of LS3’s vision sensors to track a specific individual or object, observe obstacles in its path and to autonomously make course corrections as needed
  • the addition of “hearing” technology, enabling squad members to speak commands to LS3 such as “stop,” “sit” or “come here.”
  • serves
  • mobile auxiliary power source— troops may recharge batteries for radios and handheld devices while on patrol
  • DARPA seeks to demonstrate that an LS3 can carry a considerable load from dismounted squad members, follow them through rugged terrain and interact with them in a natural way, similar to the way a trained animal and its handler interact.
  • LS3 seeks to have the responsiveness of a trained animal and the carrying capacity of a mule
  • The tests culminate in a planned capstone exercise where LS3 will embed with Marines conducting field exercises.
  • based on mobility technology advanced by DARPA’s Big Dog technology demonstrator, as well other DARPA robotics programs which developed the perception technology for LS3’s “eyes” and planned “ears.”
1 - 15 of 15
Showing 20▼ items per page