A new study has found that species living together are not forced to evolve differently to avoid competing with each other, challenging a theory that has held since Darwin’s Origin of Species. By focusing on ovenbirds, one of the most diverse bird families in the world, the Oxford University-led team conducted the most in-depth analysis yet of the processes causing…
Lemurs can be sneaky. They’ll wait until a human’s back is turned to take a treat. But a new study shows that in the same situation, they don’t seem to realize that making a racket will draw unwanted attention. Joel Bray, Christopher Krupenye, and Brian Hare of Duke University wanted to see if ring-tailed lemurs could take the perspective of others.…
ISG faculty, Christina Palmer and Janet Sinsheimer, along with ISG associate, Patrick Boudreault, and their colleagues, have published a paper titled “Using a social marketing framework to evaluate recruitment of a prospective study of genetic counseling and testing for the deaf community” in BMC Medical Research Methodology. ABSTRACT: Background Recruiting deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, particularly sign language-users, for genetics health service research…
UCLA biologists reported last year on the evolution of 129 primate faces in species from Central and South America. This research team now reports on the faces of 139 Old World African and Asian primate species that have been diversifying over some 25 million years. With these Old World monkeys and apes, the species that are more social have more…
All animals have to make decisions every day. Where will they live and what will they eat? How will they protect themselves? They often have to make these decisions as a group, too, turning what may seem like a simple choice into a far more nuanced process. So, how do animals know what’s best for their survival? For the first…
Light enhances brain activity during a cognitive task even in some people who are totally blind, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The findings contribute to scientists’ understanding of everyone’s brains, as they also revealed how quickly light impacts on cognition. “We were stunned to discover that the…