Ig Nobel Physics Prize winner Mahadevan and his colleagues have demonstrated how to produce seemingly intelligent behavior with the head of a toothbrush. The Physics arXiv blog summarizes the study, in a few words: Toothbrushes, BristleBots, and the Nature of Intelligence: Fix a vibrating motor to the head of a toothbrush and you have an […]
Tag: behavior
About-Face on Face Shape?
A new study about faces implies than an old study about faces (which we wrote about way back when) should not be taken at face value: “Lack of Support for the Association between Facial Shape and Aggression: A Reappraisal Based on a Worldwide Population Genetics Perspective,” Jorge Gómez-Valdés, Tábita Hünemeier, Mirsha Quinto-Sánchez, Carolina Paschetta, Soledad […]
Honestly: Ig Nobel winner’s new book about dishonesty
Ig Nobel Prize winner Dan Ariely has a new book out. It’s called The Honest Truth About Dishonesty — How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves. Catch him live on his book tour (which today arrives in first Cambridge, then Boston, Massachusetts) Ariely shared (with Rebecca L. Waber, Baba Shiv and Ziv Carmon) the 2008 Ig Nobel Prize […]
Sneaking behaviour in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus
Want to know more about the sneaking behaviour in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus? You are in luck: “Large- and small-size advantages in sneaking behaviour in the dusky frillgoby Bathygobius fuscus,” Takeshi Takegaki, Takashi Kaneko and Yukio Matsumoto, Naturwissenschaften, Volume 99, Number 4, 285-289. “Sneaking tactic, a male alternative reproductive tactic involving sperm competition, is […]
It Pays to Be Classy [study]
People from higher social classes are most likely to find ways to ruin the careers of the scholars who wrote this new study, implies the study: “Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior,” Paul K. Piff [pictured here], Daniel M. Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, and Dacher Keltner, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. […]
Viva Anna Wilkinson, tortoise cognitionist!
New Scientist reporter Jeff Hecht profiles Anna Wilkinson, whose discovery about contagious yawning in tortoises resulted in an Ig Nobel Prize for her and her colleagues. The report begins: “IT ALL stems from Moses,” says Anna Wilkinson. Moses is her pet red-footed tortoise and a bit of a celebrity in the science world. Why? First, […]
Confessions of a recovering engineer
Charles Mahron’s “Confessions of a recovering engineer“, in Grist magazine, is itself a well-engineered essay. (Thanks to investigator Ethel Saylor for bringing this to our attention.)
Do ethicists steal more books (and stuff)?
“One might suppose that ethicists would behave with particular moral scruple,” begins the little monograph, looking you straight in the eye while snorting and grinning, textily. The two co-authors, philosophy professors who specialise in ethics, thus embark on what they call a “preliminary investigation” of their fellow ethics experts. Eric Schwitzgebel of the University of […]
Giant gentleness quiz
TRUE OR FALSE: Giraffes are ever-gentle creatures. ANSWER: See these two videos (click on the images). (Thanks to Brontosurus em Meu Jardin for bringing this to our attention.)