ScienceDaily: Strange Science News |
- New generation of virtual humans helping to train psychologists
- Birds that live with varying weather sing more versatile songs
- Giant moa had climate change figured out
- Irony seen through the eye of MRI
- Predatory beetles eavesdrop on ants' chemical conversations to find best egg-laying sites
- Bears, scavengers count on all-you-can-eat salmon buffet lasting for months
| New generation of virtual humans helping to train psychologists Posted: 03 Aug 2012 11:06 AM PDT New technology has led to the creation of virtual humans who can interact with therapists via a computer screen and realistically mimic the symptoms of a patient with clinical psychological disorders, according to new research. |
| Birds that live with varying weather sing more versatile songs Posted: 03 Aug 2012 10:19 AM PDT A new study of North American songbirds reveals that birds that live with fluctuating weather are more flexible singers. Mixing it up helps birds ensure that their songs are heard no matter what the habitat. |
| Giant moa had climate change figured out Posted: 03 Aug 2012 08:44 AM PDT An international team of scientists has used ancient DNA from bones of giant extinct New Zealand birds to show that significant climate and environmental changes did not have a large impact on their populations. |
| Irony seen through the eye of MRI Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:30 AM PDT In the cognitive sciences, the capacity to interpret the intentions of others is called "Theory of Mind" (ToM). This faculty is involved in the understanding of language, in particular by bridging the gap between the meaning of the words that make up a statement and the meaning of the statement as a whole. In recent years, researchers have identified the neural network dedicated to ToM, but no one had yet demonstrated that this set of neurons is specifically activated by the process of understanding of an utterance. This has now been accomplished: researchers have shown that the activation of the ToM neural network increases when an individual is reacting to ironic statements. The findings represent an important breakthrough in the study of Theory of Mind and linguistics, shedding light on the mechanisms involved in interpersonal communication. |
| Predatory beetles eavesdrop on ants' chemical conversations to find best egg-laying sites Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:29 AM PDT Predatory beetles can detect the unique alarm signal released by ants that are under attack by parasitic flies, and the beetles use those overheard conversations to guide their search for safe egg-laying sites on coffee bushes. |
| Bears, scavengers count on all-you-can-eat salmon buffet lasting for months Posted: 03 Aug 2012 06:44 AM PDT Watersheds need both steep, cold-running streams and meandering streams of warmer water to keep options open for salmon. Preserving that sort of varied landscape serves not just salmon, it provides an all-summer buffet that animals need to sustain themselves the rest of the year. |
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