Krystal Paco reports, in Guam News: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s dead mice baits filled with acetaminophen being dropped from helicopters. As today marked the fourth mice drop atop forested areas of Anderson Airforce Base since September, U.S. Department of Agriculture assistant state director supervisory wildlife biologist Dan Vice explains the process […]
Tag: snakes
The Vegetarian’s Pet Dilemma
A vegetarian who keeps a carnivorous pet might encounter a dilemma : such as described in a (forthcoming) paper for the journal Appetite. ‘A meaty matter. Pet diet and the vegetarian’s dilemma’ The author, Dr. Hank Rothgerber, from the Psychology faculty at Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky, US, “… specifically focused on the conflict that pits […]
Working Memory Across Nostrils
This week’s memorable cross-nostrils study of the week is: “Working Memory Across Nostrils,” Yaara Yeshurun, Yadin Dudai, and Noam Sobel, Behavioral Neuroscience, vol.122, 2008, pp.1031-1037. BONUS: Sobel did the blindfolded-humans-follow-a-chocolate-small-trail experiment pictured here]. He is also the inventor of the nose-controlled electric wheelchair. BONUS: Yudai performed the snakes-in-an-MRI experiment.
Snakes in an MRI machine
Snakes and MRI machines figure together in several scientific studies. Here are two of them: “Contour extraction from cardiac MRI studies using snakes,” S. Ranganath, IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 1995;14(2):328-38. and “Fear Thou Not: Activity of Frontal and Temporal Circuits in Moments of Real-Life Courage,” Uri Nili, Hagar Goldberg, Abraham Weizman and Yadin Dudai, Neuron, […]
Slithering – the math(s)
“Previous studies of slithering have rested on the assumption that snakes slither by pushing laterally against rocks and branches.” explain a joint research team from the Applied Mathematics Laboratory, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, of New York University and the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biology, at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Suspecting that this […]
Plasticine snakes – their use in research.
Plasticine® was invented by William Harbutt of Bathampton, near Bath, England, in 1897. Since then, it has been extensively employed as a plaything (and, of course, as the core technology behind the development of Wallace and Gromit®). The extent of the use of Plasticine® in scientific research is, however, currently undocumented, but Improbable has tracked […]
Heads Up: Snakes in your MRI tube
A simple experiment: put a person in a tube. Add a snake. Details are reported in the study [and click on the image here to see the video that accompanies the study]: “Fear Thou Not: Activity of Frontal and Temporal Circuits in Moments of Real-Life Courage,” Uri Nili, Hagar Goldberg, Abraham Weizman and Yadin Dudai, […]
Bush Smeller Study: Snakes
The Bush Smeller collaboration — the collaboration of Mitchell Bush and Johanna Smeller — produced this study on snakes (thanks to investigator Ben Haller for bringing it to our attention): “Blood Collection and Injection Techniques in Snakes,” Mitchell Bush and Johanna Smeller, Veterinary Medicine / Small Animal Clinician, vol. 73, February 1978, pp. 211-4.