Earthing mats (a.k.a. ElectroStatic Discharge – Safe Mats) are commonplace in the electronics industry, where sensitive components need to be protected against potentially damaging rogue electrostatic discharges (ESDs). Not so common, though, for protecting furry pets in the home. But this may now have changed. Inventors Thomas J. Gaskill (Haddonfield, NJ), and James S. Gatti […]
Tag: dog
Building conclusions from the remnants of excreted hare bones
“How did they reach that conclusion? … If you eat a shrew whole, and excrete its bones, the bones will have specific hallmarks of human digestion, typified by the concentration of stomach acid and so on. In fact a scientific team won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2013 for studying what happens to shrew bones […]
A dog reacting to a person behind a glass door, pretending to weep
Dog/door/pretend-weeping research by Julia Meyers-Manor: (Thanks to the QI Elves for bringing this video to our attention.)
A Dog Using Skype [research study]
Technology is not just for humans, suggests this study that uses a dog using Skype to try to make that point, or to make some other point: “A Dog Using Skype,” Alexandre Pongrácz Rossi, Sarah Rodriguez, and Cassia Rabelo Cardoso dos Santos, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction, ACM, 2016, p. 10. […]
Flow, metaphor, flow: Constructal Law
Some things can remind you about almost everything. (Jane Siberry demonstrated this with her song “Everything reminds me of my dog.”) Some ideas can explain specific physical patterns—patterns you can see around you if you start looking for them, patterns you can try to measure and ruthlessly compare with each other. And some of those […]
Hot stuff by Cook & Berns: Why Did the Dog Walk Into the MRI?
The question “Why?” head the menu in this research study served up by Cook and Berns: “Why Did the Dog Walk Into the MRI?” Gregory S. Berns and Peter F. Cook, Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 5, 2016, pp. 363-369. The authors, at Emery University, explain: “Because he was trained to.” Peter […]
“Fake dog testicles made this man a millionaire”
Ig Nobel Prize winner Gregg A. Miller and his doggone—well, dogpartiallygone—invention, Neuticles, are profiled by CNBC, with the headline “Fake dog testicles made this man a millionaire“: The 2005 Ig Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles—artificial replacement testicles for dogs, available in three sizes, and three degrees […]
Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs (Canis familiaris)
Dogs are usually considered to be trustworthy pets, but a research (or perhaps research-like) study sheds light on dogs’ ability to use deceptive-like (ore perhaps deceptive) behaviour to get their way. The article “Deceptive-like behaviour in dogs” explains an experiment where …dogs had the chance to choose, in the presence of either a cooperative or […]
Elephant Trunk (new patent)
Robert Dale Beadles of Lodi, California, US, has just been granted a new US patent. Clues to its intended function can be seen in the drawing : 704 being a handle, and 703 being a wheel. “In summary, the present container for items and personal effects for travel will be seen to provide not only […]
She Stopped Sleeping With Her Dog Who Made Made Her Go Bald. Then Her Hair Returned.
A baldness/dog/sleep/hair causal chain-of-events is the thrilling backbone to this new medical report. “Successful treatment of refractory alopecia universalis by persuading a patient not to sleep with her dog,” Takahiro Arita, Tomoko Nomiyama, Jun Asai, Norito Katoh, Allergology International, epub 2017. The authors, at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan, report: “A 57-year-old woman who […]