General Chat

Do they know what they are doing? The idea that non-human animals reason and solve problems in ways similar to humans used to be greeted with polite dismissal or outright distain.. No longer. The book “The Animal Mind” by Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.at Princeton University, James L. Gould produces powerful evidence of human-like capacities for perception, thought and language. It appears that the gulf between human and animal consciousness isn’t nearly as wide as once believed, The breakthrough in teaching an abstract language to a non-human came with the work of researchers and the chimpanzee Washoe. Using a gestural (sign) language taught in a social context, Washoe’s eventual vocabulary reached 130 words. Using similar techniques several other chimps were taught sign language by other teams and these mastered roughly the same number of words. An orangutan was also taught many words and a gorilla was reported to have mastered 200. A horse called Clever Hans was thought to have mastered German and, on command, appeared tp be able to do arithmetic and select colours but a more thorough examination demonstrated that the horse was using imperceptible (to human observers) signals given out by the instructor’s body language (not realised by the instructor). The most impressive demonstration of the true understanding of the connection between abstract gesture (sign language) and the objects, properties or actions they signify came when one of the chimps learning sign language was instructed for a time with spoken words. After mastering ten words and the objects to which they relate he was trained to associate the same words with 10 new signs and so on. The evidence was convincing that that the chimps understood that their signs corresponded to conceptual categories rather than specific objects. For instance, the verb “open” was taught only in the context of a door but was used spontaneously by the animals to request that books, taps and drawers be opened. Some creativity in sign language was also used. Washoe named a swan with with a two-sign combination “water bird” , “metal hot” for cigarette lighter and “listen-drink” for a fizzy drink and “candy drink” for watermelon. Some chimps in these projects started to communicate with one another using signing and there is some evidence of cultural transmission in that Washoe’s son acquired some sign language from his father although humans were forbidden to use sign language in his presence. Other chimps communicated with one another by signing.. Two other approaches to teaching language to the chimanzees have produced evidence for an ability to pick up grammar Len

Stinkers Reunited. Body odour may mask some people from mosquitoes - or even actively repel them. Scientists at Rothamstead Experimental Station in Hertfordshire are studying the personal aromas of a number of volunteers who they found to be naturally bug proof. Over 350 scientists are based at the main Rothamsted site in Hertfordshire, and a further 27 at the Broom's Barn laboratory near Bury St Edmunds. These are complemented by around 200 support staff and, at any one time, approximately 75 visiting scientists (mostly from overseas) and 30 postgraduate students Ratese Rearchers at Barcelona's Speech Perception Laboratories have found that rats are able to distinguish and respond to commands in different languages. The rodents were trained to obtain rewards by pressing levers on verbal commands. They apparently could memorise Spanish, Dutch and Japanese. Previously it was thought that only humans and chimps had this ability. What is the world coming to ? Len

Happiness is: low plasma fibrinogen. The more moments of joy and happiness people experience, the healthier they will be, according to the first study to measure happiness over a day and link it to the biochemistry of the body. Scientists at University College, London, found that banishing a gloomy frame of mind can lead to a healthier heart and lower levels of stress-inducing chemicals suggesting that optimists live longer than pessimists. An examination of the emotions and health of hundreds of Londoners showed that those who expressed themselves happiest had healthier biological functions. The main chemical difference in those who were generally happy was the lower amount of the chemical plasma fibrinogen in the blood, a major predictor of cardiovascular disease risk. The happiest subjects also had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone related to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. Happy men also had lower heart rates throughout the day and evening suggesting good cardiovascular health. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved subjects rating their level of happiness more than thirty times a day. The results were adjusted for sex, age, employment status, body mass index, smoking and psychological stress. Prof. Andrew Steptoe said 'It has been suspected that happier people may be healthier both mentally and physically than less happy people. What this study shows is that there are plausible biological pathways linking happiness with health' Len

Len, Good to see you back in top form. Keep it up. Rob

Thank you, Joy and Dee and Maz. I love you all. Len

Not eggsactly a bird. A pair of pineapple-sized fossilised eggs have been found inside the pelvis of a dinosaur, providing an insight into their reproduction, that highlights their close kinship with modern birds. The shelled eggs were found inside the body of an oviraptor fossil unearthed near the city of Ganzhou in the Jiangzi province of China. 'There have been a few reports of egg-like objects inside dinosaur skeletons, but ours is the first undoubted case of shelled eggs' says Tamaki Sato of The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, one of the team behind this week's report in the Journal of Science. Oviraptor was a bird-like dinosaur that stood on two legs and was up to 8 feet long. It had long legs, slender fingers and a powerful, toothless beak. The creature, which lived about 80 million years ago, was part of the theropods - the dinosaur family thought to have given rise to birds. It had a relatively large brain and is believed to have cared for it's eggs. The find provides support for the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Len

Thank you, Len. :-) Joy

Ireland Before the last ice-age, there was no Irish Sea, English Channel or North Sea, Europe was all one land mass and the fairly sparse population was of European origin . The encroaching ice pushed out most humans although one or two tribes may have held out on the West Coast of Ireland where the gulf stream raised the temperature, probably to something like Alaska's today. After the ice-age, about 10,000 years ago, the melting ice caps raised the sea level and created the present islands which were populated by European Celts who were gradually pushed westward by fresh influxes from Europe (mainly Germanics) and Scandinavia. Ireland in particular received quite a lot of Spanish. Trade by sea flourished so there were other additions to the gene pool, e.g. Viking, and later Spanish. The island of Ierne (Ireland) was settled by a Milesian race, who came from Scythia (Middle East) by way of Spain, and established the Kingdom of Tara about 500 BC. The supremacy of the Ardri (High King) of Tara was acknowledged by eight lesser kingdoms (Munster, Connaught. Allech, Auriel, Ulidea, Meath, Leinster and Ossory) ruled by descendants of the eight sons of Miled. Although little is known concerning the earliest inhabitants of Ireland, there are many traces of Neolithic man throughout the island. In the later Bronze Age a Celtic race of Goidels (Gaels) appears to have invaded the island and in the early Iron Age Brythons from South Britain effected settlements in the South East, whilst Picts from North Britain established similar settlements in the North. Towards the close of the Roman occupation of Britain (they never got to Ireland), the dominant tribe in the island was that of the Scoti, who afterwards established themselves in Scotland. Gypsies, a nomadic race, originally from India, are also well represented. The overall population remained sparse, under 3 million until the 20th century With the separation of Britain, in the reign of Henry Vlll, from the Roman Catholic Church, Spain aggressively attempted to isolate England and sought to strengthen ties with the rest of Europe, including Ireland which remained predominately RC, culminating in a disastrous attempted invasion of England in 1588. The Armada came to grief after being forced through the English Channel, into the North Sea and rounding Scotland. It is believed that hundreds of Spanish sailors got ashore on the Irish coast and disappeared inland.

Family Tree Blues Genealogist want psychotherapy made available for people who stumble across unpleasant discoveries while researching their family history. The Society of Genealogists is one of several organisations concerned that amateur historians are not sufficiently prepared for the secrets they might uncover in their family records , and could need counseling to help them through the emotional process. Else Churchill a genealogy officer at the Society said 'people can be dealing with many serious things - from discovering that your ancester was a rapist deported to Australia to finding out you were adopted. Burying secrets causes problems and you have to be incredibly sensitive when dealing with such issues. Having trained counsellors on hand could help. My job as a genealogist ends when I have put the whats and whos together , but there needs to be continued support'. Many of Britain' 4 million amateur genealogists will end up discovering illegitimacy, bigamy, adoption, and previously unknown relatives in the course of their research. There are, however, those who may be disappointed if they fail to uncover some dark secret. Last year. a survey conducted by 1837online.com found that 10% of amateur historians hoped to unearth a family skeleton. What about the chap on TV's Richard & Judy Show last week who has unearthed convincing evidence that one of his forbears was Jack the Ripper ? Len

Speed Freaks Accountants, community nurses and office equipment salesmen are among the top professionals most likely to be flashed by speed cameras. But its more to do with personality rather than profession. Of the 300,000 people in the UK already serving driving bans, more than 70% have “Type A” psychological profiles. If you are a perfection-seeking speed freak who is always in a rush, impatient, fast-moving, time-conscious and deadline oriented, you could be on you way to a driving ban and stress-related illnesses. In the short term you can protect yourself and your business against the inconvenience and immobility of a driving ban by taking out an insurance policy such as “Flashguard” (www(.)flashguard(.)com) –remove brackets. Longer term you need to slow down and take it easy. So swap your Motorhead CD for a little Mozart. Flashguard will, for £1 a week provide £6,000 of cover a year to pay for alternative means of transport whilst banned. But if you have convictions for drink or drug related offences or dangerous driving, forget it. Len More Stealth Tax? Proposals are afoot in the Management of Offenders Bill to include a scheme to calculate fines that would take into account an offender’s income. Courts already consider an offender’s ability to pay when setting fines but under the proposed legislation the maximum fine for an offence such as failing to stop after an accident would triple to £15,000. The new system of “day fines” would be based on the offender’s income as well as the seriousness of the offence. Fines will range up to £15,000 for an adult and from £1,000 to £3,000 for those ageg 14 to 17. Len

Dog. You are a hairy fleabag. You never do a stitch of work. You lick the faces of complete strangers With the sole intention of underlining My own social inhibitions. Fossil evidence suggests that humans have kept dogs for at least 14,000 years, making them the first animals to be domesticated. The date is significant, as at that time the earth was in deep ice age, and dogs and humans were well into a symbiotic relationship in which dogs helped hunt and catch animals in return for being fed and offered some shelter. This appears to have been a natural extension of a much longer relationship humans have had with wolves from which domesticated dogs evolved.. Fossil evidence points to the co-existence of humans and wolves dating back 400,000 years. Exactly how long we have kept dogs as pets is harder to tell. Fossil hunters in Israel uncovered a 12,000-year-old burial site containing the bones of a human interred with those of a puppy with the hand of the human resting on the puppy. Sunday Telegraph 15.4.05. Len

Len, The gorillas on the island actually have a tv set too and they like to watch Blue Peter. Lucy x

98% of our DNA A zoo is trying to persuade it’s adult male chimpanzee, Charlie, to give up smoking. Charlie has been puffing away on cigarettes thrown to him by visitors at Bloemfontein Zoo, South Africa. Officials believe he picked up the habit by mimicking humans. A spokesman said that Charlie was already showing signs of a true addict. “He acts like a naughty schoolboy by hiding cigarettes when staff approach the area”. He urged visitors to stop providing cigarettes - or any other treats, adding that Charlie had three bad teeth because of the sweets and cans of soft drinks he had been given. The story reminds me of a recent programme on BBC TV concerning the animals at Longleat. The Island in the lake is currently inhabited by a pair of gorillas but at one time it was occupied by chimps as it was thought to be a ideal place to exhibit them as chimps strongly dislike getting into water. They were taken out each day in a rowboat by a keeper who took them ashore then busied himself doing a few chores and hiding food about the island. One day, however, on returning to his boat he found himself marooned and saw one of the chimps rowing the boat back to the mainland, obviously having learned a trick or two from his human captors. The chimp is not so far removed from his human cousins as we sometimes imagine. Len

Animals are capable of laughing and experiencing emotions, according to research. Scientists found that chimps, dogs and rats all displayed forms of laughter and joy during play, challenging the theory that only humans experience such feelings. A study, published in the Science Journal, found that laughter emerged early in humans in child development and was particularly evident during chasing games at an early age. These same behaviour patterns were evident in young chimps as they chase, mouth and tickle each other. Dogs and other mammals also make sounds which resemble human laughter, although these noises are not as loud or as complex as human chuckles. But the author of the report, Professor Panksepp of B.G. State University in Ohio said it was the discovery of laughter in rats which could help scientists discover the origins of human joy. He found that when rats played or were tickled they may high-pitched chirping sounds which reflected positive emotional feelings. Although rat humour has not been investigated it is likely to be of the slapstick variety. Adult rodents have no apparent cognitive sense of humour (although other animals do, as most keepers of mammal pets will be aware) young rats have a marvellous sense of fun. Further studies of animal emotions will increase our understanding of how the human brain works and has developed, Prof. Panksepp states. Len

Stem cells. Human stem calls have been grown into spinal motor neurons raising hopes of repairing damaged or severed nerve systems. Proteins were delivered to the cells, taken from a human embryo, to direct their development. Scientists hope their research could be the basis of future treatments for spinal injuries and motor neuron diseases. www.wisc(.)edu Len

A frog he went a wooing Tiny tree frogs are making such a row in Hawaii that the mayor wants to declare a state of emergency. More than 150 communities are now infested with coqui frogs from Puerto Rico. Mayor Harry Kim is pressing for $2 million to control their spread. www.capitol(.)hawaii(.)gov Len

Genes reunited? Scientists have challenged the laws of heredity that for 150 years have laid down that organisms inherit half their genetic characteristics from one parent and half from the other. It has been discovered that chromosomes can “archive” the genes of ancestors and revive them in later generations. This means that an organism may display characteristics of earlier generations that neither of its parents possessed. The mechanism has been found so far only in plant life but research suggests that the same system could apply in mammals, including humans, as sexual reproduction in all living beings arose from a common source. The findings may force a re-writing of the laws of inheritance with far-reaching implications for crop-breeding, genetics, medicine and cancer research. The laws of genetic inheritance date back to Gregor Mendel an Austrian monk who cross-bred pea plants to discover how traits were passed from generation to generation. It has long been known, though, that genes did not always follow Mendel’s rules which scientist say still are fundamentally correct but not absolute. Len

Monkeys will pay to see images of other monkeys they regard as sexually attractive or powerful. Male monkeys 'paid' in fruit to see female hindquarters or high ranking monkeys' faces but had to be paid above the odds to view low-ranking monkeys' faces. Researchers at Duke University said the value monkeys placed on various individuals matched their relative importance for behavioural success in the wild. www.(.)mc(.)duke(.)edu Len

Skeletal fossils of a human ancester dating from up to 4.5 million years ago have been unearthed in northern Ethiopia. The hominid species is Ardipithicus Ramidus, which is thought to have lived just after the split with the lineage that produced chimpanzees. Only a handful of fossils from the species has been found. Len Ps. GR members are advised that checking their trees for connections is unlikely to prove successful.

thanks Len - trust you to find such interesting items! Maz. XX