National Geographic’s Post

There are countless careers because human curiosity and societal needs constantly evolve. For example, a National Geographic short highlights “cuteness researchers” who study why certain things appeal to us—a niche field born from psychology, marketing, and biology. This shows how unique interests can become entire professions.

Hi LinkedIn fam! "I was today years old when…" I just learned about baby schema—the scientific reason behind what we find cute and why. Turns out, our brains have a chemical reaction that makes certain things irresistibly adorable. And in my line of work, I’d argue that same burst of dopamine happens when I learn something new—whether it’s a tool, a framework, a new language, or even just printing "Hello, World!" for the first time. Funny enough, after experimenting with different technologies and building complex apps, nothing quite beats the joy of that first successful print to the screen. Maybe the cuteness factor should apply to code too—not in its complexity, but in its simplicity. The moment when learning and implementation align in perfect harmony. That, for me, will always be exciting. What do you think? What was your "I was today years old when..." moment? How did you process it in hindsight? Share in the comments!

The #ASA187 Keynote Lecture is starting now! Dive into the world of animal vocalizations and discover how breakthroughs in speech science are helping us understand how vertebrates (including humans!) communicate.

In 2008, Ashley J.W. Ward's team published a study with insights on the mechanisms behind "swarm intelligence" and the "wisdom of crowds". How do animals in groups make better decisions when no single individual clearly possesses all the necessary information? Focusing on three-spine stickleback fish, the researchers proposed "quorum responses" as a key mechanism: individuals act only when they observe a threshold number of others doing the same. Their findings revealed that sticklebacks rely on this strategy to make collective movement decisions, whether avoiding predators or navigating as a group.

The same western blot bands represent different proteins in two different publications (top). Unclear why the authors used partially overlapping images in the same figure (bottom). If they should represent the same animal, why waste space in your manuscript on it? If they should represent a different animal, why use images clearly belonging to the same animal? Study 1 was cited 40 (!) times. Study 2 was cited 33 (!) times. ps: I've already flagged study 2 previously. Three out of seven figures are affected by some sort of image duplication issue.

Here is a Science Learning Map I created for the standard 5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

While I appreciate the LLMs, the methodology of brain mapping presents a more scientifically robust approach to understanding cognitive processes. This research may provide valuable insights into the potential for possibly transferring cognitive function from a person to a machine.

Interacting with animals (whales via audio callbacks in this case) is improving, and ML is helping understand "inferred intent" behind communication (abstract signaling). You can read about an example here: https://lnkd.in/gKuXZ73V

Motion blur can obscure important details of an animal's behavior. Now, researchers can video tiny insects in flight blur-free. That and more of the best in Science Magazine and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: https://lnkd.in/g67ws99z

I am excited to share a thought-provoking blog post that delves into the fascinating behavior of chimpanzees in the presence of human observers. This study reveals how the performance of chimpanzees on computer-based tasks can vary when they are aware of being watched. The implications of these findings not only enhance our understanding of animal cognition but also raise intriguing questions about the influence of social factors on decision-making processes in non-human species. Discover the insights from this research and explore how it can inform our understanding of both animal and human behavior by reading the full article at the link below: [Read the full post here](https://ift.tt/XtRKipE)