Plenty of Pheromones in the Sea
As we sat in my car outside a silent movie theater in Los Angeles, my friend anxiously opened a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt she’d slept in for the past three nights.
"behavior"
Is Your Sense of Humor in Your Genes? Geneticists Crack the Code
// Editor's note: Brain Basics from Scientific American Mind is a series of short video primers on the brain and how we feel, think and act.
Chimpanzees React To A Robo-Doll
A large portion of what animals do is interact with each other. As a social species, we can hardly go an hour without some kind of interaction with another human, be it face-to-face or via text or email...
Dogs Follow the Gaze of Humans, Especially When There’s Food Involved
I recently wrote about how humans and other primates follow the gaze of others. This week I read about two more interesting findings relating to gaze-following, the first in dogs, the second in robins...
What Are You Looking At?: Is Gaze-Following Particularly Human?
Imagine that you walk into a room, where three people are sitting, facing you. Their faces are oriented towards you, but all three of them have their eyes directed towards the left side of the room...
Free Will: Is Your Brain the Boss of You? [Video]
Philosophers have debated for years whether we deliberately make each of the many decisions we make every day, or if our brain does it for us, on autopilot.
Friday Weird Science! Being served at bars…is not about you
A strange and awkward title, that. But it’s true. That paper about how best to get service at bars? Is not about you. And it’s not about how BEST to get served at a bar.
A Dog Rolling Over During Play Is a Combat Tactic, Not Submission
I've got the `dog play' bug, arguably one of the better winter bugs to have. I recently covered which toys dogs prefer (the answer: new ones, although old ones can be reinvigorated), as well as the unfortunate finding that when a dog's not "playing right," it could be you, not them...
Did Your Daddy Raise You to Sing Like That?
When most of us hear birds twittering away in the trees, we hear it as background noise. It’s often hard to separate out one bird from another.
Eight Great Octopus Videos!
It’s Octopus Chronicles‘ 88th post! To celebrate, I’ve gone on an all-arms hunt through the deep crevasses of the internet to find eight of my favorite octopus videos.
The Unexpected Dog Killer
For some, it happens in the bathroom. For others, it's the living room. All across America, as fireworks go off on July 4th, many dogs experience varying degrees of fear and stress.
The Sorriest Animal: Why We Seek Forgiveness
Investigators explore how to use an apology effectively
“Annoying Habits of College Professors” (circa 1935 to 1937)
The timeless pet peeves of American university students
Is Dog Training Scientific?
Dog owners seem pleased when they meet me because they can talk about their dog with someone who is truly interested. Sometimes they share intricate descriptions about something interesting that their dog does (often followed with the question, "Why does she do that?"), and other times, owners have a question like, "How do I get [...]..
Chimps Will Share Their Lunchbut Only If They Like You
Chimpanzees have a lot to gain from climbing the social ladder. It now appears that lower-ranking male chimps strengthen bonds with their friends in high places by alerting them to some good eats...
The Dark Side of Power Posing: Cape or Kryptonite?
In 1942, the mild mannered Clark Kent excused himself from his friend Lois Lane to take an important call. Clark slipped into a phone booth (remember those?), and moments later Superman emerged...
Should Habits or Goals Direct Your Life? It Depends
It happens to us all: you spend all day avoiding the cookie jar at work, but when you pass by it in the late afternoon, your hand reaches in and grabs a cookie.
Burger with a side of toys: How is fast food being marketed to children?
What does the marketing of fast-food options tell us—and more importantly, our children—about the foods they are consuming?
Submarine Tapirs, Sidewinding Anacondas and Other Unusual Animal Behaviors
Here are some amazing things that me and my friends have been talking about lately. They all concern fascinating discoveries or insights into unusual aspects of tetrapod behaviour.
“So Then I Said to Roger Federer…”: The Tricky Business of Name-Dropping
Psychologists examine how name-dropping can backfire on those poor at the craft
