Stories by Jason G. Goldman

Earlier this week I wrote about the developmental and evolutionary origins of large number representation. A series of studies in human infants, monkeys, rats, and fish demonstrated that animals and humans spontaneously represent large (>4), abstract, approximate numerosities.

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week! At BPS Research Digest, Christian Jarrett asks what makes for an effective apology?

This post considering the evolutionary origins of numerical cognition, specifically in terms of the approximation of large numbers, is meant as a companion to this week’s series on the developmental origins of numerical cognition and developmental dyscalculia, at Child’s Play.

There’s also a shortage of clean water. Friend of the blog Melissa Rowley is working to fix that. She writes: When I see photographs of children in developing countries, I ponder what my life would have been like had I not been adopted.

Domesticated dogs seem to have an uncanny ability to understand human communicative gestures (see here). If you point to something the dog zeroes in on the object or location you’re pointing to (whether it’s a toy, or food, or to get his in-need-of-a-bath butt off your damn bed and back onto his damn bed).

Apparently when something interests you, the best way to figure it out is to smack it really hard, and repeatedly. If you’re a cat, at least.

Science and Science Writing Colin Schultz has committed science blogging! Science bloggers link more often to original research than do mainstream journalists.

If there is one book that every human should read, it is The Invisible Gorilla, by Chris Chabris and Dan Simons. I suppose that’s a pretty bold statement to make.

In most zoos and animal parks, polar bears (ursus maritimus) attract such a disproportionate amount of attention that they are referred to in the industry as “charismatic megafauna,” or in other words, “really cool animals.” Perhaps it is because it is especially rare for the average zoo-goer to happen upon a polar bear in the [...]

“The problem is that most bears don’t like to get their ears wet.” That is the problem, isn’t it? Another awesome video courtesy of the folks at BBC Earth “Life Is”.

I totally heart this song.

That animals help each other is far from a new observation, but it’s puzzling nonetheless. If all that matters is survival of the fittest, shouldn’t animals refrain from anything that fails to benefit themselves?

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: In a post that is sure to stir up some controversy, The Neurocritic discusses a recent paper that failed to find an association between personality (which appears to be highly heritable) and specific genes.

Sometime late Saturday night, it seems I agreed to shepherd (cat-herd?) a new blog carnival. It all started when I noticed that people seem to be blogging about poop a lot.

Different dog growls mean different things, right? Probably. But can you tell the difference? Here’s a dog growling when someone is trying to steal its food: link to mp3.

Science and Science Writing You’ve checked out the new blog, Child’s Play, I’m writing with Melody Dye over at Scientopia, right?

Dear friend of the blog and frequent commenter the Dog Zombie just got her masters!!!!! She studies dog brains by pursuing DVM and MS degrees.

Apparently, Mike the Mad Biologist thinks that I have a blog of substance. Or something like that. This appears to be a meme that Bora started, with two rules: 1.

Late last week you might have seen headlines that went something like this: “Pampered pigs ‘feel optimistic’” or, this: “Can you ask a pig if his glass is half full?” or, “Pigs have feelings, too (and they prefer a bit of luxury)” The headlines came, respectively, from BBC News, EurekAlert, and the Daily Mail.

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: “Touch imagery has always been a useful storytelling tool,” says Livia Blackburne of her eponymous blog.

Welcome to the 26th edition of the Carnival of Evolution! To begin, consider the adaptive rhymes of evolution from the Digital Cuttlefish. There was a LOT of evolutionary blogging this month, so let’s just jump right in to the rest, shall we?

“But wait,” you say. “Anteaters aren’t pets!” Well, I didn’t think so either. But Salvador Dali had a pet anteater.

What a crazy month July has been! First with PepsiGate (also here, here, and here), then once things started to quiet down a bit, we were hit with the NY Times Magazine nonsense.

Gaga before she was Gaga. From an NYU talent show. Dedicated to @_ColinS_