Sonar dispute: Navy wins, whales lose

The court did not deal with the merits of the claims put forward by the environmental groups. It said, rather, that federal courts abused their discretion by ordering the Navy to limit sonar use in some cases and to turn it off altogether in others.

http://www.veryshortlist.com/science/daily.cfm/review/798/Other_print_publication/metacognition-in-the-rat/?tp

We’ve always known that rats were capable of complex thought: They memorize mazes and form elaborate social hierarchies. Now we’re learning that they seem to think about thinking itself. Until recently, that crucial skill — called metacognition — was believed to be unique to humans.

On not handing the captured Uighurs over to China upon closing of Guatanamo:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3898579,00.html State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Bush administration understood China's point of view but needed to "assure ourselves that if people are transferred out of Guantanamo under whatever status that they are not going to be mistreated in any way, shape or form.”

Difference in inter-species perceptibility?

I saw him in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_(film), starring Anthony Hopkins. His name was at the top of the final credits, splashed across the screen in boldface, unlike that of Sir Anthony Hopkins himself. He was reportedly paid $1 million for his work in that film, says http://www.tvacres.com/bears_grizzly_bart.htm. Go and see for yourself whom I am talking about. An amazing performance!

Originally written by Jacek K. on March 18, 2009 6:10 PM He was reportedly paid $1 million for his work in that film, says http://www.tvacres.com/bears_grizzly_bart.htm.

That's a meager 1/7 of Bush book deal worth $7 million ...

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/06/one-fish-two-fish-red-fisherrrrsmart-fish

Note to humans: We've got some unusual competition in the battle for intellectual superiority, from an unlikely opponent: a 1.5" long fish called the nine-spined stickleback.

If you thought that animals could only learn by Pavlovian methods (just hearing the bell still makes me salivate, due to all of the psychology classes I slept through in college), think again. Earlier this year the stickleback proved itself to be a uniquely intelligent species, as researchers learned that these little fish are "much more willing to take risks in search of food in pairs than alone." But by golly, the little fellows aren't done yet.

DiscoveryNews reports that the nine-spined stickleback (try saying that 10 times fast), "possesses an unusually sophisticated capacity for learning not yet documented in any other animal, aside from humans." These creatures have learned to watch the mistakes of their peers so they don't repeat them, an achievement humans could learn from. This new knowledge was the result of a study done by University of St. Andrews research fellow Jeremy Kendal and his colleagues, who published their findings in Oxford University's Behavioral Ecology journal.

With this significant scientific breakthrough, who knows what else we will learn about our underestimation of animal intelligence in the near future?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30firefly.html?em

The fireflies flashing in the air are all males. Down in the grass, Dr. Lewis points out, females are sitting and observing. They look for flash patterns of males of their own species, and sometimes they respond with a single flash of their own, always at a precise interval after the male’s. Dr. Lewis takes out a penlight and clicks it twice, in perfect Photinus greeni. A female Photinus greeni flashes back.

“Most people don’t realize there’s this call and response going on,” Dr. Lewis said. “But it’s very, very easy to talk to fireflies.”

For Dr. Lewis, this meadow is the stage for an invertebrate melodrama, full of passion and yearning, of courtship duets and competitions for affection, of cruel deception and gruesome death.

The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2003/jul/03/research.science

Recent discoveries from the nascent study of pig cognition offered evidence that pigs were quick learners, slow to forget and similar to humans in many ways...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html?em