NIH closes experimentation labs accused of brutally killing thousands of beagles for 40+ years
Sparky has too much ninja blood to be an official beagle, but these reports are heartbreaking. All of the lab beagles shown in the photos have Sparky’s stoic good nature, so you know that they are all good dogs.
Drug to Extend Dogs’ Lives May Be Approved by FDA
The drug aims to extend the lifespan of senior dogs and maintain their quality of life as they age, building on the company’s previous RXE acceptance for a longevity drug specifically targeting the short lifespan of large breed dogs.
I don’t get how this works. I assume that dogs and people have similar physiologies, and two years living with Sparky hasn’t changed my mind. I have a developed prefrontal cortex and Sparky can poop whenever he wants, otherwise, our bodies work pretty much the same way.
Dogs’ speech recognition: New study shows they listen beyond tone
A new study conducted by animal behavior and mammalian cognition experts at the Universities of Lincoln and Sussex, and Jean Monnet University, reveals that dogs may be far better at understanding human speech than previously understood.
This research took place in England, so we probably didn’t pay for it. So, that’s something.
A mixed group of dogs from a variety of breeds were recruited for the exercise and were each exposed to a stream of speech which contained both relevant commands and irrelevant information, all spoken in a flat tone. Surprisingly, the dogs consistently responded to the commands, demonstrating their ability to extract meaningful verbal content from what was spoken.
Sparky is not impressed.
Your Dog May Be Wilder Than You Think
This article is about the sleeping patterns of dogs compared to wolves. I am a Sparcheologist and not a dog scientist, but this research doesn’t match my experience. The author does get some things right.
CNN: The North Pole is moving.
The needle on a compass rotates to line up with the magnetic poles of the Earth. Those poles move, and faster than you’d think. In the past few decades, the poles have been moving about 30 miles per year. On the scale of the entire Earth, that may not seem like much, but closer to the poles, it can be critical.
Sparky and I had an interesting conversation when he was in the snack pit. He has some strange ideas.
While working out, my brother and I were chatting about goals for 2025. These aren’t New Year’s resolutions that are vague and optimistic, but actionable tasks that are specific, measurable and recorded. It’s the difference between “start working out” and “go to the gym twice per week”.
Nature: Best Science Images of 2024
Take a minute to check out those images, they are quite splendid. Well, a couple weren’t great, but the rest are amazing.
Sparky and I are relaxing with coffee, and he wanted me to post this photo of an ermine chimneying up a crack. Sparky told me that if he didn’t have to be my spirit animal, he’d quite like to be a dog weasel.
The 20th Century was the Century of Physics. In 1905, Einstein published his “Special Theory of Relativity”, and up to about World War 2, modern physics was established. Very little of modern physics corresponds with what we experience in daily life, but it’s been experimentally verified and is used in current technology.
Physicists like Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck, and others debated the new theories, and tried to make some sense of the universe.
Science Alert: Owning a cat could make you a schizophrenic
Having a cat as a pet could potentially double a person’s risk of schizophrenia-related disorders, according to a recent study.
Full disclosure: I am biased against cats. I am convinced that having a cat isn’t nearly as good as having Sparky. Except for barn cats. If I had a real barn, I’d have barn cats.
Even with my bias, if a person wants a cat, don’t worry about this study. The risk of schizophrenia is seven in a thousand. A fourteen in a thousand chance is very low, and other risk factors are more pertinent.
Habitually smoking a mess of pot increases the risk about as much.
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