FieldNotes: do African horses do flehmen at the sight of Derby hats?

Domestic Horses of Africa by Darren Naish at Tetrapod Zoology:

.......Here in Europe (and elsewhere, I’m sure) we tend not to associate horses with Africa, and we also tend to be tremendously naive as goes the use and role of horses in African culture and ceremony. I don’t know anywhere near as much as I might like, but the few sources I’ve consulted show that western, central and southern Africa at least have a rich and diverse history of equestrianism. Horses have also been used extensively in war, in ceremonial fashion or as working or riding animals in many African countries even well south of the Sahara. Furthermore, there’s a fascinating (and little written-about) history of horse trading, translocation and breeding that’s intertwined with the history of many African peoples. ......

This Funny Face is Actually Essential to Mammals' Sex Lives by Diane Kelly at Throb:

That dopey face your cat makes—its mouth half-open, its lips curled awkwardly away from its teeth—has a name. It’s called the flehmen response, and yes, it looks ridiculous. But for many mammals, it’s a critical part of their sex life. ....

Identity and Meaning in Derby Hats by Krystal D'Costa at Anthropology in Practice:

.........Our relationship with headdresses is intrinsically linked to status and identities. From crowns to wraps to baseball caps, headdresses signify the status and standing of the wearer as they are attached to the face, a primary focal point on the body. They do more than provide protection from the elements: they convey mood and provide signals for social interaction. They can help us manipulate our presentation of self. The tradition of Derby hats isn’t excluded from this experience..........

An Object at Rest from Seth Boyden on Vimeo.

Is mathematics necessary for doing great science? by Ashutosh Jogalekar at The Curious Wavefunction:

,........Writing in the Wall Street Journal, biologist E. O. Wilson asks if math is necessary for doing great science. At first glance the question seems rather pointless and the answer trivial; we can easily name dozens of Nobel Prize winners whose work was not mathematical at all. Most top chemists and biomedical researchers have little use for mathematics per se, except in terms of using statistical software or basic calculus. The history of science is filled with scientists like Darwin, Lavoisier and Linnaeus who were poor mathematicians but who revolutionized their fields. But Wilson seems to be approaching this question from two different perspectives and by and large I agree with both of them. The first perspective is from the point of view of students and the second is from the point of view of research scientists. Wilson contends that many students who want to become scientists are put off when they are told that they need to know mathematics well to become great scientists.........

There is No “Missing Link” in Evolution by Jolene Creighton at From Quarks to Quasars:

Anyone familiar with evolution knows that humans (relatively complex organisms) evolved from simpler forms of life over the course of billions and billions of years. Although we understand a great many things about how we evolved, there are a few gaps in our understanding. People sometimes refer to these gaps in our knowledge as “missing links.” This name stems from the idea that all life is connected in a kind of chain. You can trace it forwards, to see where life is heading, or backwards, to meet our predecessors and see where we’ve been. It is based on the belief that organisms can be ordered into very delineated organizations…a nice, neat line of progression......

Natural police by Suzanne Sadedin at Aeon:

Naturalists have long regarded ants and bees as a sort of living parable on the benefits of universal virtue. ‘Karl Marx was right, socialism works,’ said the great ant specialist Edward O Wilson; ‘it’s just that he had the wrong species.’ Certainly, the eusocial insects (from the Greek eu meaning ‘good’ or ‘real’) are better citizens than you or I will ever be. Reproduction is restricted to queens and drones. The workers, unable to pass on their private genome, devote themselves instead to the service of the nest. From the perspective of our own contentious societies, it’s tempting to view the anthill as a place of angelic (or robotic) order.....

Behind the story: life and death in loo rolls by Mun-Keat Looi at Mosaic:

Illustrating the decay of dead bodies without being too gruesome is a challenge, one met with gusto and originality by set designers Lightning + Kinglyface. We asked them how they came up with their ideas for the shoot.....

Rice and Beans: How Does Culture Become Generic? and Rice and Beans: What Is the Difference Between Private and Public Culture? by Krystal D'Costa at Anthropology in Practice:

A bustling, diverse neighborhood, Corona in the borough of Queens in New York, is home to a large population of Hispanic immigrants. Colombians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, Dominicans, and Mexicans are some of the people who call Corona home and while many are legitimately employed as cooks, cleaners, domestic workers, and in construction throughout New York City, their undocumented neighbors, cousins, spouses, siblings, and children also work throughout the boroughs. Many undocumented immigrants have found employment as street vendors, stock boys, bus boys, dishwashers and—for those possessing automotive repair skills—as automotive workmen in the Willets Point junkyard. The employment opportunities available to this latter group are severely limited as expected but many are able to support their immediate families as well as extended kin networks—both abroad and locally—with remittances, or “gifts,” from their thin and unsecure wages......

How Quantum Pairs Stitch Space-Time by Jennifer Ouellette at Quanta:

Brian Swingle was a graduate student studying the physics of matter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he decided to take a few classes in string theory to round out his education — “because, why not?” he recalled — although he initially paid little heed to the concepts he encountered in those classes. But as he delved deeper, he began to see unexpected similarities between his own work, in which he used so-called tensor networks to predict the properties of exotic materials, and string theory’s approach to black-hole physics and quantum gravity. “I realized there was something profound going on,” he said.....

Alexander The Great's Father Found In Tomb With Foreign Princess by Kristina Killgrove at Forbes:

A warrior and a diplomat, Philip II ruled the kingdom of Macedon from 359-336 BC. He was assassinated during a visit to the town of Aegae, now called Vergina, by a member of his bodyguard, but both ancient and modern historians are at odds as to why. With his assassination, his son Alexander ascended the throne at just 20 years old, earning the title of Great by becoming one of history’s best military commanders and empire builders.....

And if that is not enough, more readings for later this weekend:

Invaluable lessons about what a “good death” might look like by Shoshana Ungerleider, MD at KevinMD.com
What Was the Venus de Milo Doing With Her Arms? by Virginia Postrel at Slate
Invasive species might not be entirely awful, after all by Jason G. Goldman at Conservation
Devastating photos of California show how bad the drought really is by Erin Brodwin at Business Insider
Scientists Crack A 50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine by Michaeleen Doucleff at Goats and Soda
Camera traps & citizen science reveal the ice-melting power of penguin poop by Jason G. Goldman at Earth Touch
10 Real-Life Animal Husbandry Techniques That Alien Zoos Will Use On Us by Esther Inglis-Arkell at io9
Inoculating against science denial by John Cook at The Conversation
What Isn't Evolutionary Psychology? by Dominic Johnson at This View of Life
Dying Trees Can Send Food to Neighbors of Different Species Via ‘Wood-Wide Web’ by Jennifer Frazer at The Artful Amoeba
Sneaky little Hormones by Alexandria Hammons at Real Labwives of Princeton
Kogiids of the Caribbean by Travis Park at Blogozoic
What should we tell people about the AMNH apatosaurine? by Matt Wedel at Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week
The Biggest Concerns About GMO Food Aren't Really About GMOs by Beth Skwarecki at Vitals
Research shows more sex does not mean more happiness by Dr. Jekyll at Lunatic Laboratories
Adventures in Studying Brain Sex Differences by Peg McCarthy and Bridget Nugent at the Node
Should My Child Take Melatonin? A Guide for Parents by Craig Canapari, MD at Craig Canapari, MD blog
Birth of the blue morphos by GrrlScientist at the invisible scientist
Evolutionary Biology’s Eagle Scout: E.O. Wilson by Barry X. Kuhle at This View of Life
The people who think they are made of glass at BBC News Magazine
Practicing Science-Based Horse Husbandry by Christa Lesté-Lasserre, MA at The Horse
Root Fungi Can Turn Pine Trees Into Carnivores — or at Least Accomplices by Jennifer Frazer at The Artful Amoeba
Beware the bad survey: Science literacy isn’t as bad as the statistics make it look by Cassie Barton at SciComm
Will traditional science journals disappear? by Dorothy Bishop at Head quarters
Religion as an Evolutionary Organism by David Sloan Wilson at The Religious Studies Project
Labels and information. by Ian Street at The Quiet Branches
 



Previously in this series:
FieldNotes: a view to spotted horses in the morning
FieldNotes: The Word For World is Blue (or is it Gold?)
FieldNotes: Golden Mean, polite middle-ground, and optimal numbers of legs.
FieldNotes: speeding up and slowing down time
FieldNotes: from Captain Ahab to Jeff Goldblum, chasing the giants
FieldNotes: this is not your grandparents' neuroscience!
FieldNotes: Brontosaurus in, Food Babe out.
FieldNotes: Rogue Microwave Ovens Call Home
FieldNotes: Let the sleeping apes lie
FieldNotes: one thing leads to another leads to another
FieldNotes: Seductive Allure of Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations
 
Image: Drawing of an intriguing piebald Dongola horse by F. Joseph Cardini from 1848. Image in public domain.