Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[alway]

Another really neat documentary; this one about Chernobyl. An old BBC documentary called "Inside Chernobyl's Sarcophagus" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAATawYCD8

[10ebbor10]

It's pretty old though, and might no longer be entirely accurate.

Then again, it's the BBC, so it should be quite good.

[Dutchling]

Then again, it's the BBC, so it should be quite good.

Don't let Owlbread hear...

[Lagslayer]

Neat documentary on the intelligence of crows

Yes, crows are pretty awesome. They got the combination of cognitive power, perception, communicability, and ability to manipulate objects that humans have. I find them much more fascinating than other, more popular "smart" animals, such as dolphins or apes. Octopuses are pretty cool, too, but are often overlooked as well.

[kaian-a-coel]

My favourite "smart" animals are crows, octopuses, and their cousin the cuttlefishes. Orcas too. They're basically dolphins but not what most people picture when you say "dolphins".
I'd include raptors on that list if we could actually study their behaviour.

On second thought, maybe not. If their descendants are anything to go by, modern raptors wouldn't just open doors (even a snake can do that). They'd pick the locks.

[Helgoland]

I like pigs. They're pretty bright, and useful as well. /obligatory Snatch reference

[tahujdt]

Reading this from the first page made me think of something random:

I'd say "confirmed finding the flesh of God" is pretty damn sufficiently sexy, regardless as to its practical applications. Still, definitely let's poke it with a stick to see if it jumps.

"News Flash! Communion wafers found to contain Higgs Boson! Leading scientist says, "wait, they weren't kidding about that Transubstantiation thing?" Police suspect unlicensed particle accelerator under Vatican!"

[pisskop]

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0052970

Study on the effects of parasitism on the brain.  I stole it.

[Sheb]

? What? That's a open access paper pointing at brain difference between Democrats and Republicans.

[Dutchling]

I assume the parasite he is talking is of a divine nature

[Lagslayer]

The article itself is interesting enough, but could we please keep the political shit slinging out of it?

[BFEL]

So, interesting !SCIENCE! question for you all:

If you could uplift one animal on Earth to human level, which would it be? This is assuming the animal in question remained psychologically similar to its species, but just got more intelligent.

I think I would go with spiders. An odd response certainly, but I think it would provide a wonderful ability to get to know a creature that we only partially understand, and lets face it, a diplomatic pact for them to clean out bug infestations and such without snacking on people would be pretty awesome. Plus they could make awesome arts with DAT WEB.
Hell, could probably get them to weave super-strong combat vests and such.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I most definitely would not go outside mammals. Once you're in other groups you're dealing with what might as well be alien psychology.

[Sirus]

I'd pick something that didn't outnumber humanity so much, unless you were referring to a single species of spider.

Personally I'd go with octopi. They're pretty damn smart anyway, so "uplifting" them wouldn't be so far out of the realm of possibilty.

[BFEL]

I most definitely would not go outside mammals. Once you're in other groups you're dealing with what might as well be alien psychology.

Which is what makes it so FASCINATING. I mean we pretty much already understand dogs and cats and shit, THIS IS FOR TEH SCIENCE MAN.