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Submission + - Why It's So Hard to Probe the Cat Mind (slate.com)

sciencehabit writes: The last fifteen years has seen an explosion in studies on canine cognition, with nearly a dozen laboratories around the world investigating the doggy mind. But what about cats? Almost no one studies them--and with good reason. According to this story in Slate, cats are "the world's most uncooperative research subject", with one scientist claiming they're harder to work with than fish. Still, some intriguing insights are emerging, including one telling study that explains the differences in personality between cats and dogs.

Comment Re:Easy answers (Score 1) 305

Agreed.
Here's what happens to me occasionally when doing a "fetch quest" in a video game: I can't find the last item needed to complete the quest. I got all the others, but the last one is hidden away somewhere and I can't move the game forward a single inch until I find that very last one.
So I ask myself "What rooms haven't I been in?", "What doors haven't I opened?", "What box/crate/container haven't I looked in?" etc.
... and off I go exhaustively searching for that very. last. one.

I would hate to have to go searching through hundreds of mundane "template rooms" & closets that contain nothing of interest.

Comment Re:diminished placebo effect (Score 1) 408

It totally makes sense that the placebo effect would work on people that don't know what "inter substance" means... but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
The following is a quote from the study leader:
"Not only did we make it absolutely clear that these pills had no active ingredient and were made from inert substances, but we actually had 'placebo' printed on the bottle," said Kaptchuk. "We told the patients that they didn't have to even believe in the placebo effect. Just take the pills."

Comment Re:diminished placebo effect (Score 3, Informative) 408

But won't telling the patient "the facts" diminish the placebo effect?

"Placebo effect works even if patients know they're getting a sham drug
Study suggests patients benefit from the placebo effect even when told explicitly that they're taking an 'inert substance'"

http://www.theguardian.com/sci...

Submission + - Elite Violinists Fail to Distinguish Legendary Violins From Modern Fiddles (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: If you know only one thing about violins, it is probably this: A 300-year-old Stradivarius supposedly possesses mysterious tonal qualities unmatched by modern instruments. However, even elite violinists cannot tell a Stradivarius from a top-quality modern violin, a new double-blind study suggests. Like the sound of coughing during the delicate second movement of Beethoven's violin concerto, the finding seems sure to annoy some people, especially dealers who broker the million-dollar sales of rare old Italian fiddles. But it may come as a relief to the many violinists who cannot afford such prices.

Comment Re:We are the geeks, we are not tools for non-geek (Score 2) 465

By asking "Which is it?" you make it sound like those two beliefs are contradictory and I don't believe that they are.
So long as feminists acknowledge that men are also capable of "bringing unique abilities and perspectives to the table" then it is not hypocritical.

Comment Re:"LONG extinct"? Hah. (Score 1) 187

To be quite blunt: I'm just a layman and I'm really not interested in ever seeing revived mammoths released in to the wild.
I'm more interested in seeing mammoths used as safe scientific test subjects for experimenting with the technology to revive extinct species.

Once the process of reviving extinct species is understood well enough that it can be done safely: Species that I would like to see revived (and released into the wild) are ones that were recently driven to extinction by human activity (by over hunting & habitat destruction)... but I think that is a long way off.

Comment Re:"LONG extinct"? Hah. (Score 4, Interesting) 187

I was going to make a very similar comment to yours, but the more I thought about it the more the mammoth seems like a good test case.

It seems to me that we're just starting the testing & experimentation phase of resurrection technology. To be cautious I think we should start testing this new technology on extinct species that meet both of the following conditions:
(1) Are unlikely to escape captivity (ideally test species should be unable to survive outside specially designed enclosures).
(2) Are big, lumbering, and slow breeding. Even if such a species somehow escapes captivity (and manages to survive in the wild) we can still hunt them down and eliminate them.

So far as I know mammoths meet both of these conditions making them good test subjects for resurrection technology.
"... bringing [the mammoth] into an environment that it was not evolved to handle" - That's a feature, not a bug!

Submission + - Exxon Mobile CEO Sues to Stop Fracking Near His Texas Ranch

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Exxon Mobile's CEO Rex Tillerson's day job is to do all he can to protect and nurture the process of hydraulic fracturing—aka ‘fracking’—so that his company can continue to rake in billions via the production and sale of natural gas. “This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery, growth, and global competitiveness," said Tillerson in 2012 of attempts to increase oversight of drilling operations. But now Rick Unger reports at Forbes that Tillerson has joined a lawsuit seeking to shut down a fracking project near his Texas ranch. Why? Because the 160 foot water tower being built next to Tillerson’s house that will supply the water to the near-by fracking site, means the arrival of loud trucks, an ugly tower next door, and the general unpleasantness that will interfere with the quality of his life and the real estate value of his sizeable ranch. The water tower is being built by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corp., a nonprofit utility that has supplied water to the region for half a century. Cross Timbers says that it is required by state law to build enough capacity to serve growing demand. In 2011, Bartonville denied Cross Timbers a permit to build the water tower, saying the location was reserved for residences. The water company sued, arguing that it is exempt from municipal zoning because of its status as a public utility. In May 2012, a state district court judge agreed with Cross Timbers and compelled the town to issue a permit. The utility resumed construction as the town appealed the decision. Later that year, the Tillersons and their co-plaintiffs sued Cross Timbers, saying that the company had promised them it wouldn't build a tower near their properties. An Exxon spokesman said Tillerson declined to comment. The company “has no involvement in the legal matter” and its directors weren’t told of Mr. Tillerson’s participation, the spokesman said.

Comment Caveat emptor is not good for training & educa (Score 1) 374

The problem with caveat emptor, especially when it comes to education, is that the people who want to take a computer programming bootcamp are mostly the people who know the least about computer programming and are thus the least qualified to tell the difference between a scam and a legitimate computer programming syllabus.

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