Jason Goldman
jgoldman
Posts by this author
September 4, 2010
As I'm sure many of you did, I recorded Phil Plait's (twitter, blog) Bad Universe pilot last week, and it was so good that I watched it twice. And then two more times as I tried to figure out why it was so compelling. Why am so interested in picking apart these particular 44 minutes of TV…
September 3, 2010
Here at The Thoughtful Animal, we are conducting series of seven-question interviews with people who are doing or have done animal research of all kinds - biomedical, behavioral, cognitive, and so forth. Interested in how animal research is conducted, or why animal research is important? Think you…
September 2, 2010
The 27th edition of the Carnival of Evolution is being served up at 360 Degree Skeptic. Lots of great posts included as usual, including my two part series on social dynamics in hyena groups: Silver Spoon Hyenas? and Silver Spoon Hyenas: Maternal Social Status Affects Male Reproductive Success.…
September 1, 2010
The universe is expanding, and so is the science blogosphere.
Directly on the heels of the announcement last week of the big daddy meta-aggregator to end all aggregators, scienceblogging.org, there are not-one-but-two new science blogging networks that have launched in the last forty-eight hours.…
August 31, 2010
Dogs are pretty smart. They can have huge vocabularies, they can infer meaning in the growls of other dogs, and they can effortlessly figure out if other dogs want to play or fight with them. But their intelligence might be limited to the social domain; indeed, while they outperform chimpanzees in…
August 31, 2010
Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:
"Distorted perceptions and an altered state of mind: two reasons why psychedelics have always attracted not only fascination, but also controversy for decades." Noah Gray at Nature Blogs has curated a mini-carnival of sorts centering…
August 28, 2010
Welcome to the weekly linkfest, August 28 edition.
Science
Brian Switek writes about one of the fastest mammals on earth, the pronghorn, and the complex ecology it lives in. Of Pronghorns and Predators. It's an interesting look into the predator-prey relationships between wolves, coyotes, and…
August 27, 2010
Figure 1: A mother hyena with her cubs.
Early developmental experiences can have significant implications for the growth, behavior, survival, and reproductive success of an individual. In many species, one of the most important factors that affects an individual's early development is the maternal…
August 26, 2010
A fascinating new paper just came out in Nature Communications and I intend to blog it in the usual manner, but I thought I'd try something new first. Check it out:
The Research Question...According to life history theory, mothers should invest in their offspring if this enhances offspring…
August 24, 2010
Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:
Livia Blackburne asks what something called "visual noise exclusion" has to do with dyslexia. She classifies the post as "intermediate-advanced," but it's a good concise explanation of this complicated research finding.
People have…
August 23, 2010
Predator-prey interactions are often viewed as evolutionary arms races; while predators improve their hunting behaviors and their ability to sneak up on their prey, the prey improve upon their abilities to detect and escape from their predators. The problem, of course, is that there is a trade-off…
August 22, 2010
Here's your weekly round-up of fun and fascinating:
To start with, I did a 6-part series on numerical cognition and the development of math skills, here and at Child's Play:
1. The Developmental Origins of Numerical Cognition
2. What is Dyscalculia? How Does It Develop?
3. Developmental Dyscalculia…
August 20, 2010
Two important notes for today - the full link round-up, as per usual, will come over the weekend.
First, the meta-aggregator to end all aggregators. Go check out scienceblogging.org - a fantastic tool built by Anton Zuiker, Blogfather Bora, and Dave Munger. It's not perfect, but the whole thing was…
August 19, 2010
Earlier this week I wrote about the developmental and evolutionary origins of large number representation. A series of studies in human infants, monkeys, rats, and fish demonstrated that animals and humans spontaneously represent large (>4), abstract, approximate numerosities. Animals, human…
August 17, 2010
Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week!
At BPS Research Digest, Christian Jarrett asks what makes for an effective apology?
Krystal D'Costa of the Urban Ethnographer blog describes an afternoon at a fish market in New York City, and ponders the relationship of smell and…
August 17, 2010
This post considering the evolutionary origins of numerical cognition, specifically in terms of the approximation of large numbers, is meant as a companion to this week's series on the developmental origins of numerical cognition and developmental dyscalculia, at Child's Play.
What are the origins…
August 16, 2010
There's also a shortage of clean water. Friend of the blog Melissa Rowley is working to fix that.
She writes:
When I see photographs of children in developing countries, I ponder what my life would have been like had I not been adopted. My being here, here and now, and not roaming the streets of…
August 16, 2010
I will be reposting some dog-related posts from the archives in the coming few weeks as I prepare for the course I'm teaching this semester on dog cognition. Please let me know if you find something inaccurate or unclear.
Domesticated dogs seem to have an uncanny ability to understand human…
August 15, 2010
Apparently when something interests you, the best way to figure it out is to smack it really hard, and repeatedly. If you're a cat, at least.
h/t @ferrisjabr
August 15, 2010
Science and Science Writing
Colin Schultz has committed science blogging! Science bloggers link more often to original research than do mainstream journalists. Not surprising, but good to know there's empirical research.
Hannah Waters of Culturing Science ponders the place of young science writers…
August 13, 2010
If there is one book that every human should read, it is The Invisible Gorilla, by Chris Chabris and Dan Simons.
I suppose that's a pretty bold statement to make. Let me explain. As a student of psychology, and as someone who studies and writes about the mind, I am overwhelmed with the general…
August 12, 2010
In most zoos and animal parks, polar bears (ursus maritimus) attract such a disproportionate amount of attention that they are referred to in the industry as "charismatic megafauna," or in other words, "really cool animals." Perhaps it is because it is especially rare for the average zoo-goer to…
August 11, 2010
"The problem is that most bears don't like to get their ears wet." That is the problem, isn't it?
Another awesome video courtesy of the folks at BBC Earth "Life Is". Narrated by (who else?) David Attenborough.
August 11, 2010
That animals help each other is far from a new observation, but it's puzzling nonetheless. If all that matters is survival of the fittest, shouldn't animals refrain from anything that fails to benefit themselves? Why help another get ahead? There are two main theories: First, that such behavior…
August 10, 2010
Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:
In a post that is sure to stir up some controversy, The Neurocritic discusses a recent paper that failed to find an association between personality (which appears to be highly heritable) and specific genes.
Dr. Dan Simons of the…
August 9, 2010
Sometime late Saturday night, it seems I agreed to shepherd (cat-herd?) a new blog carnival. It all started when I noticed that people seem to be blogging about poop a lot. It was pointed out that some blog about urine. Carin Bondar wanted to add barf and blood to the mix.
So, Bora and I are…
August 9, 2010
Different dog growls mean different things, right? Probably. But can you tell the difference?
Here's a dog growling when someone is trying to steal its food: link to mp3.
Here's a dog growling at a stranger: link to mp3.
You probably can't tell the difference. Neither could I. Dogs can. Surprised…
August 8, 2010
Science and Science Writing
You've checked out the new blog, Child's Play, I'm writing with Melody Dye over at Scientopia, right? She started us off with an *awesome* series on delay of gratification and the cookie task (start here).
Apparently monkeys hate flying squirrels. And I hate the deck of…
August 7, 2010
Dear friend of the blog and frequent commenter the Dog Zombie just got her masters!!!!! She studies dog brains by pursuing DVM and MS degrees. One degree down, and two to go!
She writes (via email) that she was
a little worried that people would think "why do I care about something touchy-feely…