https://pinboard.in/u:jm/public/ recent bookmarks from jm 2022-03-01T18:00:17+00:00 https://twitter.com/MichaelWorobey/status/1497607313397481472 jmWe have just released two preprints on the origin of SARS-CoV-2: 1. "The Huanan market was the epicenter of SARS-CoV-2 emergence" ( https://zenodo.org/record/6299116#.YhpLBi9h06w ) & 2. "SARS-CoV-2 emergence very likely resulted from at least two zoonotic events" ( https://zenodo.org/record/6291628 ) These are excellent.]]> animals china epidemiology sars-cov-2 covid-19 lab-leak michael-worobey papers preprints zoonosis https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:251cd44078ca/ 2020-06-24T13:29:36+00:00 https://theguiltyenvironmentalists.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/beginners-guide-to-ex-battery-chickens/ jm chickens pets animals home https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:1c824413749e/ 2019-03-25T11:28:07+00:00 https://hackaday.com/2012/09/28/making-logic-gates-out-of-crabs/ jmYukio-Pegio Gunji and Yuta Nishiyama from Kobe University, along with Andrew Adamatzky from the aptly named Unconventional Computing Centre at the University of the West of England decided they needed a new way to build logic gates using crabs [....] The colonies of soldier crabs that inhabit the lagoons of Pacific atolls display a unique swarming behavior in their native habitat. When in a swarm of hundreds of individuals, the front of the swarm is driven by random turbulence in the group, while the back end of the swarm simply follows the leaders. Somehow, this is a successful evolutionary strategy, but it can also be exploited to build logic gates using only crabs. The team constructed a Y-shaped maze for a pair of crabs to act as an OR gate. When two soldier crabs are placed at the top of the ‘Y’, they move forward until they meet and exit the maze through the output. This idea can be expanded to a slightly more complex AND gate, functionally identical to the electron-powered AND gate in a 7408 logic chip. ]]> logic-gates logic soldier-crabs crabs computing hardware swarming nature animals via:theophite https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:bc2a0bc8e535/ 2016-10-12T09:59:49+00:00 http://www.davemech.org/news.html jmThe concept of the alpha wolf is well ingrained in the popular wolf literature at least partly because of my book "The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species," written in 1968, published in 1970, republished in paperback in 1981, and currently still in print, despite my numerous pleas to the publisher to stop publishing it. Although most of the book's info is still accurate, much is outdated. We have learned more about wolves in the last 40 years then in all of previous history. One of the outdated pieces of information is the concept of the alpha wolf. "Alpha" implies competing with others and becoming top dog by winning a contest or battle. However, most wolves who lead packs achieved their position simply by mating and producing pups, which then became their pack. In other words they are merely breeders, or parents, and that's all we call them today, the "breeding male," "breeding female," or "male parent," "female parent," or the "adult male" or "adult female." In the rare packs that include more than one breeding animal, the "dominant breeder" can be called that, and any breeding daughter can be called a "subordinate breeder." ]]> biology animals wolves alpha alpha-males mra science wolf-packs society competition parenting https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:872630cc1167/ 2016-07-03T12:44:42+00:00 https://www.insectlore.co.uk/bug-related-items/live-bug-kits/stick-insect-eggs.html jm stick-insects pets animals insects https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:81332334d784/ 2013-12-04T15:51:04+00:00 http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/100-years-of-breed-improvement/ jmThe English bulldog has come to symbolize all that is wrong with the dog fancy and not without good reason; they suffer from almost every possible disease. A 2004 survey by the Kennel Club found that they die at the median age of 6.25 years (n=180). There really is no such thing as a healthy bulldog. The bulldog’s monstrous proportions makes them virtually incapable of mating or birthing without medical intervention. (via Bryan)]]> dogs eugenics breeding horror science genetics traits animals pets bulldog pedigree https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b7af1a957a63/ 2013-07-30T16:31:58+00:00 http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Clare-dolphin-attacks-fourth-swimmer-in-a-month-as-Dusty-protects-her-patch-217567841.html jmLocals say the three-metre long mammal has been responsible for injuring a number of people over the past two years, with several of those being hospitalised with significant injuries. She struck a 40-year-old woman in the abdomen earlier this month. In response, lifeguards now fly the red danger flag any time the dolphin enters the area. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has also erected warning posters at Doolin pier. IWDG coordinator Dr Simon Berrow said: “It is our policy to discourage people swimming with whales and dolphins in Ireland. “We’ve drafted a poster recommending people do not swim with Dusty, but if they must, then they should respect her as a wild dolphin and not grab, lunge or chase after her. If she shows aggressive behaviour or is boisterous they should leave the water.” ]]> dusty dolphins wildlife nature fanore county-clare ireland swimming doolin animals https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:64a5dde28f37/ 2013-01-26T13:07:47+00:00 http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/all-polar-bears-descended-from-one-grizzly.htm jm animals biology science dna history ireland bears polar-bears grizzly-bears via:ben https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:dbf33dcc106c/ 2011-11-02T22:00:44+00:00 http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6474/ jm octopus animals biology consciousness neuroscience science https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:05f9053e995b/