Space
The Thoughtful Animal
Category archives for Space
Zombies Ate My Brain! (and other tales)
Posted by Jason G. Goldman on July 1, 2010 Imagine with me, for a moment, that the zombie invasion has begun. You try to escape, but the zombies are just too much to handle. You can’t run fast enough. They’re everywhere. Your favorite science bloggers have been turned into zombies and they’re coming for you. Figure 1: Thanks to Joseph Hewitt of Ataraxia Theatre…
Polygamous Males Have Larger…Hippocampi!
Posted by Jason G. Goldman on June 1, 2010 It should not come as a surprise to the regular reader of this blog that a lot can be learned about animal cognition by simply observing animal behavior. But can observing animal behavior lead the observer to make inferences about brain anatomy? Can observing animal behavior tell us something about the evolution of the brain?…
Monday Pets: Dumb Guinea Pigs? (The I Just Got Back From APS Edition)
Posted by Jason G. Goldman on May 31, 2010 Zen recently wrote mentioned this study on his blog, so I thought it was time to dredge it out of the archives. Also, I’ve just returned from APS (see my daily recaps here here and here), and I am TIRED. Domestic animals and their wild counterparts can be different in big ways; there can be…
Who Moved My Garden? Spatial Learning in the Octopus
Posted by Jason G. Goldman on April 28, 2010 Say you’re visiting Los Angeles and you have a sudden craving for Chinese food. Since you are only visiting, you might not be aware that nothing is open past, like, 10pm (not even coffee houses), but you get in your rental car and go driving around in search of your Chinese feast anyway. You try…
Drive-Through or Eat Out? How An Octopus Decides
Posted by Jason G. Goldman on April 23, 2010 It’s amazing how much you can learn about an animal’s mind by a simply watching it. Video 1: Gratuitous video of octopuses never hurt anyone. Maybe this will sate the Pharyngulites.