In this second episode in our deniably-popular Curing Shyness in Dogs series, to entertain you and your dog, and perhaps cure one or both of you of various ailments, we examine, distantly, this Master’s Voice Productions-produced set of CDs. This entertainment and/or cure is, the manufacturer says, “the result of two years of studies, planning […]
Tag: dog
The physics of the wet dog shake
Behold the basic physics of the wet dog shake, as explored by Andrew Dickerson, Grant Mills, Jay Bauman, Young-Hui Chang, David Hu of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Their (skimpy, introductory) paper is available on arxiv — it’s really an introduction to this entrancing video (also available in a higher-res version): (Thanks to Joseph Amaslab […]
Dog & cat flea-jump tribute video
Someone made a tribute video, inspired by the 2008 Ig Nobel physics prize winners. Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert, and Michel Franc of Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France were honored for discovering that the fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than the fleas that live on a cat.
When my dog visited Hauser’s lab
Robin Abrahams, our psychology editor, writes in Salon: “What kind of a pet owner voluntarily submits her dog for laboratory experiments? The kind who very much hoped that the scientists would give out bumper stickers that read, “My Dog Is an Honor Student at the Harvard Canine Cognition Lab,” that’s who. Now that the academic […]
Cartozoology: dog of london
Dr. Eilert Sundt Secretary General, Norwegian Cartozoologic Society, writes [AIR 16:2]: “The Mercantile Mongrel Dog prowls the heart of the City of London. Given the sheer variety and denseness of detail that is characteristic of London, this con-tour is best explored in the company of friends.” BONUS: Download a high-res copy of the full article […]
Perpetual motion attempt, with dog
Perpetual motion machines are difficult to build, to put it mildly. This attempt uses a dog as the main mechanism: (Thanks to investigator Kermit Chessman for bringing this to our attention.)
Ig followup: Bowlingual, iPhone, Twitter
A 2002 Ig Nobel Peace Prize-winning device is coming to the iPhone and to Twitter. Crunchgear has a perfect headline and a succinct report: Bowlingual: iPhone app translates what your dog barks, posts it to Twitter Do you remember the Bowlingual, the portable dog language translator that was released in Japan last year? The basic […]
Caudal Communication in the Canids
A research team from the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria, Canada, have, for the first time, investigated the behavioural responses of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to the asymmetric tail-wag of a life-sized robotic-dog model – one which was configured to wag its tail, either to the right or to the left, at […]