FieldNotes: Cecil and grief

Do Birds Grieve? by Becca Cudmore at Audubon:

It’s hard to imagine what a mourning bird would look like. But forced to guess, I would say the footage of two female Emperor Penguins huddled around a lifeless chick in BBC’s series “Penguins-Spy in the Huddle” comes uncomfortably close. The accompanying narration supports this conclusion: “The mother invested everything in her chick.” the BBC reporter intones. “To lose it is a tragedy.” Even the clip’s producers call this “the most emotional clip we’ve ever filmed.” But does the bird actually feel the same great sadness that the image evokes in us? It’s hard to tell—even for scientists........

Is there a reason for grief? by Katherine Ellen Foley at Scienceline:

............Sadness and bereavement can leave us listless, withdrawn and awake all hours of the night. Sometimes, we may physically ache for our lost loved one. Columbia University psychiatrist Katherine Shear recently documented a condition called “complicated grief,” in which these symptoms last much longer than expected. And then there’s broken-hearted syndrome, where stress hormones may cause the heart to beat irregularly, mimicking a heart attack. If grief has such terrible effects on our physical well-being, what possible biological benefit could come from unpleasant emotions, such as sadness and bereavement?........

I Had a Hamster. I’m Pretty Sure He Killed Himself. by Emily Underwood at The Last Word On Nothing:

Bethell studies animal cognition in a number of species, including primates, in hopes of better understanding their emotional lives and improving their treatment in captivity. Historically, she says, studying animal emotion was considered pretty wishy-washy. You could study what animals did in response to various stimuli, but asking how they felt was seen as unscientific. One of the most frustrating things about trying to study animal emotion is that you can’t take behaviors at face value, she says. If a hamster runs madly on its wheel all night, for example, how do you know if it is running out of joy, or boredom? Though I’d argue that human behavior can be equally difficult to interpret, with animals there’s no way to ask.........

Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home? by George Dvorsky at io9:

Unlike a certain companion animal that will go unnamed, dogs lose their minds when reunited with their owners. But it’s not immediately obvious why our canine companions should grant us such an over-the-top greeting—especially considering the power imbalance that exists between the two species. We spoke to the experts to find out why.......

Differences between men and women are more than the sum of their genes by Jenny Graves at The Conversation:

Gender differences and sexual preferences are frequently a point of conversation. What produces the differences between men and women? Are they trivial or profound? Are they genetic or environmental, or both? Some people claim that, genetically, men are more closely related to male chimpanzees than to women. Others discount sex differences because they’re determined by a single gene, called SRY, on the Y chromosome. But the key to difference between men and women – and chimps – lies not just in the number of their differing genes but in what these genes do......

A Riot of Color Lurking in the Amazon by Jason G. Goldman at Nautilus:

Imagine a tropical rainforest and the picture that appears in your mind’s eye is probably filled with green and brown. It’s true that those colors dominate the landscape, but a closer look at some of the jungle’s inhabitants reveals tremendous variation. I just returned from a trip to the Amazon, and here are some of the more creatively colored animals I found, representing practically every part of the rainbow......

To keep your memories alive, it's better to write a diary in the evening than in the morning by Jordan Gaines Lewis at Research Digest:

For over 15 years now, I’ve faithfully kept a diary. Every night, from age 11 until my senior year of university, I snuggled into my bedsheets and rehashed the day’s events before nodding off to sleep. Even though I’m more likely to scribble down my thoughts just once or twice a week nowadays, I’ve found that writing in a diary before bed is a fun way to capture my memories – no matter how frivolous – to enjoy again years down the road. Now a new study, published recently in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, suggests that my nightly routine might help with something else: being able to recall a specific day’s events from memory weeks later. Importantly, however, I may be at a greater advantage than some diarists because I typically write in my diary just before hitting the pillow, instead of waiting until the next morning.........

We've Modified Our Behavior So We Can Text and Walk by Krystal D'Costa at Anthropology in Practice:

Texting—or checking social media or reading/responding to email or reading the news or checking the weather or watching a video—while walking is a pretty ubiquitous phenomenon. It's so common that it might no longer be the annoyance it once was. Who's left to find it a nuisance? We've all been captivated by the notification icons on our phones, so virtually no one is paying attention to where they're going. Our mobile devices are heavily integrated in our lives. In my case, it's one of the first things I reach for in the morning, and when I get out of the car my phone is often in my hand as I walk through the parking lot to the store I'm visiting. I do try to put it away while I walk to the office from the train station though. I'm very aware that the distraction may make me a target--or put me in front of a moving vehicle. Plus, I've just been reading emails on the entire train ride in. The ten minute walk to my building is a welcome break. Usually............

What insects are entomologists afraid of? by Joe Ballenger at Ask an Entomologist:

.......I have a lot of friends who are afraid of a lot of different insects. One woman I worked with in graduate school had a hard time identifying insects for her coursework because she was too afraid to handle them. Another one of my friends, who actually works with moths, is deathly afraid of moths. So entomophobia isn’t something which really holds entomologists back, because we figure out ways around our fears. A lot of these people were in more laboratory positions, rather than working with live insects.......

Physics demonstrations: Lichtenberg figures by Greg Gbur at Skulls in the Stars:

...........In a thunderstorm, a large electric potential is formed between a negatively-charged cloud and the positively-charged ground. Opposite electric charges attract, so there is a strong “pressure” for the charges to leap the gap from ground to cloud. However, the atmosphere is a poor conductor, so the charges are prohibited from making the jump until enough has built up to essentially force a connection. When it has, a downward leader — a channel of ionized air — is created from the cloud towards the ground, often branching into many paths and forming the characteristic shape of a lightning bolt. Near the ground, the negative charge encourages the formation of upward streamer; when a leader and a streamer meet, a massive return stroke — the actual flash of lightning — is created. Though the electrons flow from the cloud to the ground, the actual flash of lightning goes from the ground up............

Cracking an Otter Mystery by Perrin Ireland at onEarth:

Why would a group of primate archaeologists want to study the mouths of ancient sea otters? Turns out, the teeth of these animals may give us clues about how a species enters into the esteemed realm of tool users. Once thought to be the domain of humans only, tool use has since been documented in several species—including some sea otters that crack open snails with rocks or the hulls of ships, or even use a crab’s own claw to scrape out its meaty insides. As reported in Hakai Magazine, scientists don’t know how long otters have been doing this. Tool use in sea otters isn’t universal. It varies, depending on where they live and what they eat. Interestingly, when a new type of fish starts swimming in otter habitat, otters quickly develop methods for eating it. This leads scientists to think that their tool use is not purely instinctual but rather knowledge that gets passed between them. This could mean sea otters have some sort of culture that spreads from place to place and through time as they teach their skill to their offspring. .....

Seeds That Defied Romans, Pirates, and Nazis by Robert Krulwich at Curiously Krulwich:

Our story starts quietly in a museum. In a cabinet. There, in the dark, sits a small batch of seeds: Persian silk tree seeds. They come from China. They were taken, probably secretly, from Beijing to London by a British diplomat in 1793. The British wanted to grow silk. Flash forward to 1940. German bombers are flying over London. An incendiary bomb hits the botany section of London’s British Museum, smashing our cabinet, releasing the seeds. They fly off, land in the rubble, and get doused by London’s fire brigade. Weeks later, museum workers see some sprouts growing at the bomb site—baby silk trees. They’d germinated after 150 years in a cabinet.....

Life After Faith by Richard Marshall at 3:AM Magazine:

Philip Kitcher returns to 3:AM as part of the End Times series to discuss his thinking on ethics, Derek Parfit, on the use of stripped down thought experiments , on intuitions, on why we shouldn’t try for ethical peaks, on how he sees the ethical project, on what life after faith means for religion and science, on science and democracy, on Dewey and pragmatism, on science and values, on science education, on the point of philosophy, on Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and why life without literature and the arts is a mistake….....

The topic of the week was the death of Cecil the lion:Why Cecil Was Such an Important Lion by Megan Cartwright at Slate
11 thoughts about Cecil the lion by David Shiffman at Southern Fried Science
The Science Of Why You Are So Upset About Cecil The Lion by Judd Legum at ThinkProgress
Cecil the lion: The killing that’s enraged the internet, explained by Zack Beauchamp at Vox
Cecil is dead. Can we save lions like him from an onslaught of threats? at Earth Touch
From Gamergate to Cecil the lion: internet mob justice is out of control by Max Fisher at Vox
Cecil the lion's final photograph by Harriet Alexander and Peta Thornycroft at Telegraph
The debate over Cecil the lion should be about conservation, not hunting by Lochran Traill and Norman Owen-Smith at The Conversation
Jericho Isn't Cecil's Brother And Is Probably Still Alive, Lion Researcher Says by Bill Chappell at The Two-Way
Billionaire Who Funds Cecil The Lion's Researchers Speaks Out, Offers Matching Grant by Jane Roberts at Forbes
Why Cecil the lion's death shouldn't make us ban all trophy hunting by Tanya Lewis at Business Insider
Cecil the Lion Beanie Baby unveiled, with proceeds set to go to wildlife research group by Nina Golgowski at NEW YORK DAILY NEWS



And if that is not enough, more readings for later this weekend:
Meet The Canadian Scientist Who Loves Battling American Creationists by John Farrell at Forbes
The importance of sleep: It's not just how much, but when by Susan Perry at MinnPost
Here’s What’s Wrong With That Viral Coca-Cola Graphic by Carolyn Kylstra and Sally Tamarkin at BuzzFeed
Connections in my scientific career by Zen Faulkes at NeuroDojo
How cleaner cow burps could help fight climate change by Chris Mooney at Washington Post
Scientists find the single letter in corn’s DNA that spurred its evolution by Robert Gebelhoff at Speaking of Science
Why It's Time to Change How You Divide Your Time by Jennifer Verdolin at Psychology Today
New Fossil Discovery - “Olive” A Primitive Horse Ancestor From The Green River Formation by Matt Heaton at FOSSILERA
Legionnaires' Disease -- Another Summer Scourge From Unexpected Places by Judy Stone at Forbes
Meet the First New Canine Found in 150 Years by Carrie Arnold at National Geographic
How Hurricane Katrina Turned Pets Into People by David Grimm at BuzzFeed



What Happens When People Text on an Obstacle Course by Elizabeth Preston at Inkfish
The next step in genomics by Larry Moran at Sandwalk
Looking for Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Bacteria That Make Cheese Delicious by Kevin Bonham at Food Matters
I Can Haz Danger? Dogs Show Social Referencing, What About Cats? by Julie Hecht at Dog Spies
Circadian Rhythm May Be Result Of These Changes In The Brain, Scientists Say by Ali Venosa at Medical Daily
Golden jackal: A new wolf species hiding in plain sight by GrrlScientist at GrrlScientist
The Evolutionary Link Between Diet and Stomach Acidity by DeAnna Beasley at NC State News
With Global Warming, Expect More Deadly Vibrio Cases by Judy Stone at Forbes
The next big thing for beer could be bugs, NC State scientists say by Rose Rimler at The News & Observer
Keeping Lake Tahoe Blue Doesn’t Mean Keeping It Clear by Jason G. Goldman at Conservation
New law curbs Georgia’s electric car sales by Chelsey B. Coombs at Scienceline
The squirrel-saving stuntwoman by Hanneke Weitering at Scienceline
How I Eat My Veggies by Helen Fields at The Last Word On Nothing
Splotchy Cats Show Why It’s Better to Be Female by Kat McGowan at Nautilus
Sexuality is fluid – it’s time to get past ‘born this way’ by Lisa Grossman at New Scientist
What Small Scale Societies Tell Us About Our Own Child-Bearing Decisions by Lesley Newson at This View of Life
Ancient Stories Provided An Early Warning About Potential Seattle Earthquakes by David Bressan at Forbes
This Scientist Might End Animal Cruelty—Unless GMO Hardliners Stop Him by Kat McGowan at Mother Jones
Earth’s Daily Rotation Period Encoded in an Atomic-level Protein Structure by Divya Narasimhan at Biotechin.asia
When and how to “go for the genes” by Rob Denton at Molecular Ecologist
The Real Miracle of Acupuncture: That Anyone Still Believes In It by Simon Oxenham at Neurobonkers
The Importance of the Horse Herd by Gabrielle and Camille Dareau at Horse Collaborative
On Being Pro-Frog by Chris Arnade at The Last Word On Nothing
The Reality of Color Is Perception by Mazviita Chirimuuta at Nautilus



How Do We Normalize Pregnancy? by Krystal D'Costa at Anthropology in Practice
Dogs Look to People to Figure Out How to Respond to the Crazy Green Monster by Julie Hecht at Dog Spies
Why Mammals Have a Monopoly On Milk by Marissa Fessenden at Smithsonian
Beyond Pluto: Let’s Go See Some More New Worlds by Nadia Drake at No Place Like Home
What do IKEA, Thomas Edison, and peer review have in common? by Richard Threlfall at Wiley blog
Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children’s Book Author’s Little-Known Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms by Maria Popova at Brain Pickings
Social Priming: Money for Nothing? by Neuroskeptic at Neuroskeptic
Bald eagles are back, but what’s on their menu? by Jason G. Goldman at Conservation




Making Friends With Crows by Jennifer Campbell-Smith at The Corvid Blog
Horned Treefrogs and Other Marsupial Frogs by Darren Naish at Tetrapod Zoology
Rare Discovery Proves Cats Have Been Devious For Thousands Of Years by Stephen Messenger at The Dodo
Kumara are transgenic by Grant Jacobs at Code for Life
Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language by Chelsea Wald at Nautilus
Plants Murder Bugs to Pay Their Bodyguards by Elizabeth Preston at Inkfish
How Charles Darwin Classified His Minerals And Rocks by David Bressan at History of Geology
Tiny Drones That Navigate with Insect Eyes by Mike Orcutt at MIT Technology Review
Inside the Goth Chicken: Black Bones, Black Meat & a Black Heart by Kat McGowan at Nautilus
Sea ice is a polar bear conveyor belt by Liz O'Connell at Frontier Scientists
Chasing James Bond’s Hummingbird by Ross Kenneth Urken at Nautilus



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
FieldNotes: do African horses do flehmen at the sight of Derby hats?
FieldNotes: How The Bird Got Its Beak
FieldNotes: When Snakes Had Legs...
FieldNotes: Only before the bicameral mind evolved could people fall for Bohannon's cheap stunts
FieldNotes: Water, fire, origin of life, origin of cooking.
FieldNotes: Jurassic World, and other strange animals...
FieldNotes: Honey Badger Don’t Care!
FieldNotes: Hallucigenia is back on its head again.
FieldNotes: Poisonous and grieving quail, reclusive rail, and giants!
FieldNotes: When Snark was a Boojum
FieldNotes: In a grip of the legs of a snake



Images:
Butterfly, by Jason G. Goldman
Lichtenberg figure, by Greg Gbur
Cecil and one of the lionesses in the Linkwasha Camp, by Brent Stapelkamp