Mind
The Wilder Side of Sex
My latest piece for BBC Future is now up, and it focuses on how the things we may think of as odd, gross, or strange when it comes to human sexual practices are perhaps entirely normal for other species...
Stories by Jason G. Goldman
Mind
Science on Screen in LA Tomorrow: Bestiaire followed by Q&A
Tomorrow night, Friday February 22 at 7:30pm, Cinefamily and and Cinespia Salon will present the latest installment of the their Science on Screen series at the old Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles...
Mind
The LA County Science Fair Needs Help
Empirical research on the effects of science fair participation seems scant, but the research that does exist suggests that participation is generally a positive experience for students, that participation increases scientific literacy, and, importantly, that participation results in an increased understanding the process of science...
Evolution
Shouting for Sex: I'm Speaking on "Your Primal Instincts" at @MindshareLA Next Week
Mindshare LA Presents: "Your Primal Instincts" ...on the West Side!I'll be speaking at a special sciencey Valentine's Day version of Mindshare this month in Santa Monica along with Christopher Ryan (of Sex at Dawn fame) and science journalist Sharon Brock.We'll all be covering the science of love from our own perspectives, and my talk will be about how animals shout at each other for sex, how some types of shouts are more effective than other types of shouts, and what (if anything) it might tell us about how we humans go about finding that special someone...
Evolution
Animals That Make Believe
In his book Cosmos , Carl Sagan wrote, "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."In the photo above, Koko the gorilla plays with a doll, apparently pretending to nurse it...
The Sciences
Putting Science on Screen (A Tale Told In Tweets)
What responsibilities do filmmakers have in terms of scientific accuracy? Usually, I argue that filmmakers are storytellers first, and while scientific accuracy (or plausibility) can often support a narrative, the first responsibility of the filmmaker is to weave a captivating tale...
Mind
Seven Things You Didn't Know About Ravens, Superbowl Edition
The triumph of corvids over numbers yesterday in the Super Bowl meant two things to me: first, that ornithology continues to trounce math in any contest that matters, and second, that I would have to follow up this weekend's groundhog post with a post about the amazingness of one of the most clever of winged critters.Here, then, are six seven things you didn't know about ravens...
Mind
Eight Things You Didn't Know About Groundhogs
Happy Groundhog Day! Today is the day each year in which we look towards a giant rodent to find out how much more winter we'll have to endure. This year, we probably know the answer: winter hasn't been very wintery, even for Los Angeles...
Health
Tiger Tradeoffs: Balancing Medical and Psychological Well-Being in Zoos
Among animal welfare professionals, those who work at zoos might have the toughest jobs. Keepers and curators at zoo must alternately serve as biologists, psychologists, trainers, chefs, janitors, and educators...
Evolution
Adventures in Pedantry: Fringe's Captain Windmark Can't Be A Toe-Tapper
Last week saw the third-to-last episode of Fox's sci-fi family drama Fringe . Despite the somewhat wonky fifth season, for me Fringe has represented the best sci-fi offering on network television since Joss Whedon's Dollhouse was cancelled.For the uninitiated, here's a bit of background (lots more here) required for today's pedantic adventure...
Mind
Is Playtime All Fun and Games?
Why do animals like to play? Scientists have often used the word play simply to describe any behavior that does not have any apparent adaptive function.
Evolution
The Best Animal Stories of 2012
By Jason G. Goldman and Matt SoniakHumans have a complicated relationship with our non-human cousins. Some animals we invite into our homes, and treat as members of our families...
Evolution
Is Orangutan Culture Made of Ideas?
The chimpanzee's clever use of sticks to fish for termites is fairly well known. In 1964, Jane Goodall announced her groundbreaking discovery to the world, writing in the journal Nature , "During three years in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanganyika, East Africa, I saw chimpanzees use natural objects as tools on many occasions...
Mind
Science Seeker Editor's Selections: Music, Knowledge, Cortisol, Language
Here are my Science Seeker Editor's Selections:Why does music move us so? In her inaugural post at National Geographic's new blog salon Phenomena, Virginia Hughes explores this question by discussing a fascinating new study...
Mind
What Is Operant Conditioning? (and How Does It Explain Driving Dogs?)
While second nature to many of us, driving a car is actually a fairly complex process. At its most stripped down version, first you sit in the driver's seat, then you start the engine, then you shift into gear, and then you must simultaneously steer while keeping your foot on the gas pedal...
Evolution
Koalas and Bison Use the Same Rules for Choosing Mates
While natural selection works operates over an individual's ability to survive, sexual selection operates over an individual's ability to mate and successfully sire offspring.
Mind
ScienceSeeker Editor's Selections: Dogs, Money, Sensation & Perception, NeuroNewtons, and DSM-5
Here are my Science Seeker Editor's Selections for the past week:Can Dogs Use Human Emotional Expressions to Identify Which Box Contains Food? New research from the Tomasello lab, ably covered at the Companion Animal Psychology blog.Can having more money make you a worse parent?...
Evolution
A Feathered Innovator
In a first for its species, a captive cockatoo creates a tool
Mind
You're Not As Special As You Think
After being knocked out for a week by a flu (don't procrastinate on those vaccines, like I did) and coming back to a veritable avalanche of new data and (American) Thanksgiving, things are a little busy around here.So, to keep you busy between carving up turkeys and decorating with gourds, and because I haven't been prompt about announcing them here, below are links to the five pieces I've written thus far for my column over at BBC Future, Uniquely Human, in reverse-chronological order...
Mind
For Word Learning, Size Matters If You're A Dog
In 1988, a three-year-old child is led into a brightly colored testing room in a psychology department in Bloomington, Indiana. A small toy is brought out and put onto a table in front of the child...
