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Nuggetz

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This is pretty cool but obvs very bad if it were to occur
 
There's an argument about the dividing line between animals and humans.

How would we treat animals if there was still a creature sitting between us and apes in intelligence?

This creature can understand basic language without too much training, it can speak without too much training - just hanging around humans it can pick up the basics. It could end up achieving the level of a 4 or 5 year old maybe, and looked pretty much like us, but was a separate species.

How would we treat animals given this human-like but non-human animal?
 
Oct 19, 2020
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Zeptosecond’ measured for first time

German scientists announced they had measured the smallest unit of time ever recorded - a zeptosecond. A zeptosecond is one trillionth of a billionth of a second.

Researchers made the discovery while studying how long it took a photon – a particle of light – to cross a hydrogen molecule. They said the photon crossed the molecule in about 247 zeptoseconds. “This is the shortest timespan that has been successfully measured to date,” the team said in a statement.
 
Oct 19, 2020
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This is very interesting news from today.

Researchers find xenobots can give rise to offspring
Xenobots are synthetic lifeforms made by cells from frog embryos and assembling them into clusters.

images (23) (15).jpeg

 
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I really want to see an Abrams tank made of this stuff! :D


Using a novel polymerization process, MIT chemical engineers have created a new material that is stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and can be easily manufactured in large quantities.
The researchers found that the new material’s elastic modulus — a measure of how much force it takes to deform a material — is between four and six times greater than that of bulletproof glass. They also found that its yield strength, or how much force it takes to break the material, is twice that of steel, even though the material has only about one-sixth the density of steel.
 

CD Xbow

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This is pretty amazing, Magpies help each other remove trackers 'The Birds Outsmarted Us’: Magpies Help Each Other Remove Scientists' Tracking Devices

Cognition of birds is far greater than we expect, this example shows altruism, cooperation and a significant capacity for problem solving. While is very hard to compare, I suspect Magpies and Crows have about the same cognitive ability of a dog. This is a bit of a miracle when you consider the size of bird brains and how limited they are by the constraints of flight, now we know they achieve this by having a neuron density about 10x that of mammals. While the authors original study has failed, I think they have probably found a more interesting topic.
 
There was a piece on TV yonks ago showing how "smart" species have a big range of intelligence. Some individuals could solve problems in one go, others had to watch a genius bird solve it before they understood, and others never got it even when they were shown how.
 

CD Xbow

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How organism organise their growth, internal structure and even generate intelligence is discussed in the interesting article The study of the mind needs a Copernican shift in perspective | Aeon Essays All these things are still poorly understood.
It's moderately heavy but worth a read if you have an interest in developmental biology, information systems or cognition. Aristotle, you will be pleased as Xenobots even get a brief mention.
 

CD Xbow

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Setting His Own Dinner Table: Spontaneous Tool Use by a Dingo​


the videotape reflected perhaps the first documented instance of tool use by a member of the Canid family. As described in the Behavioural Processes paper:




That is incredible.
I've seen dogs drag blankets over themselves, not just get under it, but shift it from one place to their doggy bed then drag it over themselves on the bed. Does that constitute tool use? Or simply Basenjis will do anything to keep warm?
 
Oct 19, 2020
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That is incredible.
I've seen dogs drag blankets over themselves, not just get under it, but shift it from one place to their doggy bed then drag it over themselves on the bed. Does that constitute tool use? Or simply Basenjis will do anything to keep warm?
Not sure but I think Dingos have better skills in moving things than dogs.
 

CD Xbow

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Not sure but I think Dingos have better skills in moving things than dogs.
Like babies? (Sorry, couldn't help it).

Great Barrier Reef may be in it's 6th major bleaching event in 25 years - Dead coral found at Great Barrier Reef as widespread bleaching event unfolds

The survey hasn't finished yet but things are not looking good. We are in a La Nina period, one which should be a bit gentler on the reef. The UN ae visiting at present looking at the condition of the reef. I hope Peter Ridd is paying attention. He is the geophysicist that is the darling of climate change deniers, this is his belief:

“Due to the remarkable mechanisms that corals have developed to adapt to changing temperatures, especially the ability to swap symbionts, corals are perhaps the least endangered of any ecosystem to future climate change – natural or man-made"

I think marine biologists would disagree strongly with him.
I'm sure a certain Mr Andrew Bolt who will tell you the reef is fine and it's all alarmist hysteria.
 
Oct 19, 2020
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Like babies? (Sorry, couldn't help it).

Great Barrier Reef may be in it's 6th major bleaching event in 25 years - Dead coral found at Great Barrier Reef as widespread bleaching event unfolds

The survey hasn't finished yet but things are not looking good. We are in a La Nina period, one which should be a bit gentler on the reef. The UN ae visiting at present looking at the condition of the reef. I hope Peter Ridd is paying attention. He is the geophysicist that is the darling of climate change deniers, this is his belief:

“Due to the remarkable mechanisms that corals have developed to adapt to changing temperatures, especially the ability to swap symbionts, corals are perhaps the least endangered of any ecosystem to future climate change – natural or man-made"

I think marine biologists would disagree strongly with him.
I'm sure a certain Mr Andrew Bolt who will tell you the reef is fine and it's all alarmist hysteria.
Criminal.
 

CD Xbow

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Decreased expression of the FOXG1 gene causing a form of Microcephaly (FoxG1 syndrome) has been known for a while. FOXG1 is a transcription factor that interacts modulates neuronal differentiation in the cerebral hemispheres. Abnormal regulation of the gene also appears to be the cause of some brain tumours. These authors describe being able to turn the gene off and on in the laboratory. A single gene can control brain cell growth in humans, research shows Note this is lab stuff, not medical treatments.

Authors speculate about it as a treatment for brain tumours (turn it off), neurodevelopmental disorders (turn it on) but don't speculate about manipulating it to enhance neural development (Brainiacs!!!) I'm sure someone will do If ever there are drugs/therapies to do this.
 
Nov 26, 2015
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Syd - Melb distance on 1 charge easy...

 
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