behavior
grrlscientist | March 27, 2010tags: beards, facial hair, funny, silly, humor, streaming video
In honor of Silly Saturday, I had to share this silly video with you. It's about beards. Those of you who know me will understand the significance for this video appearing here.
cwilcox | March 24, 2010The latest study from Boston University has college students everywhere popping open a brewski and saying "I told you so." Researchers found that getting drunk the night before a test had no effect on the student's performance, although it left them feeling rotten on test day.
What college student hasn't chosen to blow off last minute studying in favor of a few drinks? Binge drinking is common on U.S. campuses, and the effects of such behavior on the student's performance are poorly understood. There is thought to be a general negative connection between the two, but while some studies have…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2010tags: Science CAN Answer Moral Questions, philosophy, morality, ethics, behavior, brain, neurobiology, religion, culture, well-being, human rights, human values, Sam Harris, TEDTalks, streaming video
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.
Adored by secularists, feared by the pious, Sam Harris' best-selling books argue that religion is ruinous and, worse, stupid -- and that questioning…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Waterfall Toad Leap from Danger, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about TONIGHT's premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2010tags: Tommy Davis, scientology, religion, cults, mind control, Thetan, silly, offbeat, beliefs, Xenu, L Ron Hubbard, television, Life after Scientology, ABC1, streaming video
ABC Australia's "Four Corners" investigate the realities and impact on members and ex members, of Scientology's overtly retributive doctrine. Includes rationale from Tommy Davis.
As more ex members reveal the inside workings of a cult once banned [1960's] in three Australian states, authorities again prepare to re-examine Scientology's tax exempt religious status, granted in 1983.
This is a fascinating investigative…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Komodo Dragons Hunt Buffalo, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about the upcoming March 21 premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant…
laelaps | March 19, 2010
At almost every aquarium I have ever visited with a seahorse exhibit, the plaque in front of the tank says the same thing: in seahorses and their relatives, males, not females, carry the babies. It is always interesting to watch the reactions of visitors to this curious fact. Adult men, for instance, sometimes seem unsettled by the thought of male pregnancy, but the reproductive reversal among the fish is often seen as kinda cute ("How sweet. A fishy dad taking care of his kids!"). As shown by a study by Kimberly Paczolt and Adam Jones published this week in Nature, however, there can be…
grrlscientist | March 19, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, BBC, Challenges of Life, Stalk-Eyed Fly, animals, mammals, birds, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about the upcoming March 21 premiere of BBC's LIFE on the Discovery Channel. LIFE is the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Challenges of Life, Cheetas Hunting Ostrich, animals, mammals, birds, television, BBC, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery Channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about the upcoming March 21 premiere of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using the latest in HD filming…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2010tags: perception, The Magic of the Placebo, placebos, medicine, magic, Eric Mead, TEDTalks, streaming video
Sugar pills, injections of nothing -- studies show that, more often than you'd expect, placebos really work. At TEDMED, magician Eric Mead does a trick to prove that, even when you know something's not real, you can still react as powerfully as if it is. (Warning: This talk is not suitable for viewers who are disturbed by needles or blood.)
What's your opinion? It looked rather contrived to me: The placebo discussion was only remotely related, and seemed only an excuse to perform someï…
grrlscientist | March 15, 2010tags: !Kung, ÇʼOÇKung, beatbox, beatbox girl, performance art, linguistics, streaming video
This woman is ridiculously awesome: she beatboxes for the camera. I have never seen anyone better than her. Which of course, makes me wonder if she might be the one Westerner who is able to learn to speak the !Kung language, ÇʼOÇKung, fluently?
Any linguists out there who might know if she has been contacted about learning to speak the !Kung language?
grrlscientist | March 14, 2010tags: Tommy Davis, scientology, religion, cults, mind control, Thetan, silly, offbeat, beliefs, Xenu, L Ron Hubbard, television, BBC, CBS, streaming video
This is an interview with Tommy Davis, international Scientology spokesman, regarding the tragic death of Jett Travolta due to the medical neglect that their cult demands from its adherents, including Jett's parents. Davis is very scummy because he never gives a straight answer to any question asked. I also have embedded some other videos of Davis, where he reveals his less than angelic side.
Incidentally, Tommy Davis (the guy being…
grrlscientist | March 13, 2010tags: Sea Organization, Sea Org, Tommy Davis, scientology, religion, cults, mind control, Thetan, offbeat, beliefs, Xenu, L Ron Hubbard, television, Life after Scientology, ABC1, streaming video
Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org.
They signed a contract for a billion years -- in keeping with the church's belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep,…
grrlscientist | March 13, 2010tags: photography, sports, futbol, professional soccer, cultural observation, acting lessons, humor, funny, television, streaming video
I love futbol, but OMG, these boyz are such crybabies and drama queens! These soccer/futbol players demonstrate the reasons why I think they all are in desperate need of acting lessons: their ridiculous overblown theatrics.
grrlscientist | March 12, 2010tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, gynandromorph, bilateral gynandromorph bird, half-sider, mixed-sex chimaera, sex determination, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, endocrinology, birds, chicken, Gallus gallus, ornithology, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club
Half-sider.
Almost exactly one year ago, hundreds of American birders
were thrilled by sightings and photographs of this remarkable
Northern Cardinal, or Redbird, Cardinalis cardinalis,
photographed in Warrenton, VA.
Image: DW Maiden, 2 March 2009.
I'll never forget…
grrlscientist | March 7, 2010tags: Praying Mantis, Preying Mantis, mantid, insects, birds, hummingbirds, offbeat, predation, predatory behavior, nature, streaming video
Sandy Lizotte, the Ventura Hummingbird Lady, captures a rare and remarkable moment where a praying mantis was waiting patiently at a hummingbird feeder to ambush a hummingbird. As you'll see in this video, the mantid succeeds.
The hummingbird did survive.
grrlscientist | March 7, 2010tags: scientology, religion, cults, mind control, Thetan, silly, offbeat, beliefs, Xenu, L Ron Hubbard, television, BBC, streaming video
Speaking of Mormonism and other cults .. erm, religions .. I thought I'd give you a peek at Scientology. In this television report, hidden cameras go inside the London Scientology Organization to expose their inner workings. It seems that even the Mormons could learn a few mind-control techniques from the Scientologists.
I find it really depressing to think that one Scientology survivor exchanged one form of mind control for another: after he escaped…
grrlscientist | March 3, 2010tags: neuroscience, happiness, experience, memory, colonoscopy, vacation, well-being, income, Daniel Kahneman, TEDTalks, streaming video
Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers…
grrlscientist | March 1, 2010tags: The Dork Anthem, funny, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, iTunes, Dave and Brian, music video, streaming video
This video is a musical tribute to the miserable lives led by high school guys with talent in the sciences, and yes, it's actually funny. I wish that us grrls would do something like this, though, except I'm thinking we're all too busy struggling to pay rent while searching for tenure-track positions and taking care of kids.
Produced by FocalPoint Cinematic & Dave and Brian. You can purchase this tune on iTunes.
laelaps | February 27, 2010
Male (right) and female (left, with infant) friends in a population of Chacma baboons. (From Palombit, 2009).
Among other things, friends are people you count on to come to your aid when you need help. If you were at a bar and a stranger started acting aggressively towards you, for example, you would expect your friends to rush over to help you rather than just stand there, mojito in hand. Contrary to our feelings of human exceptionalism, however, ours is not the only species of primate to create and maintain friendships.
For years primatologists have been puzzling over "friendship" in…