24 November 2011

Classic Re-Post | WKRP "Turkeys Away"

As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.


Oh, the humanity!

21 November 2011

Monkey Monday | Happy

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Arbroath

14 November 2011

Monkey Monday | Chimpanzee Demonstrates Understanding Of Human Speech

A 25-year-old chimpanzee named "Panzee" has just demonstrated that speech perception is not a uniquely human trait. Well-educated Panzee understands more than 130 English language words and even recognizes words in sine-wave form, a type of synthetic speech that reduces language to three whistle-like tones. This shows that she isn't just responding to a particular person's voice or emotions, but instead she is processing and perceiving speech as humans do.

"The results suggest that the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans may have had the capability to perceive speech-like sounds before the evolution of speech, and that early humans were taking advantage of this latent ability when speech did eventually emerge," said Lisa Heimbauer who presented a talk today on the chimp at the 162nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Diego.

Heimbauer, a doctoral candidate and researcher at Georgia State University's Language Research Center, and colleagues Michael Owren and Michael Beran tested Panzee on her ability to understand words communicated via sine-wave speech, which replicates the estimated frequency and amplitude patterns of natural utterances. A few of the test words were "tickle," "M&M," "lemonade," and "sparkler."
Link via Monkeys in the News

04 November 2011

Nature Is Trying To Kill You

The leatherback turtle eats your soul jellyfish and the backward-pointing
 spines in its mouth help to keep its prey from slipping out.
They go all the way down its gullet.

Nature Is Trying To Kill You is a brand-new blog that celebrates "the animal kingdom's terrifying mouths, jaws, teeth, and tongues."

Neatorama

03 November 2011

Similar Site Search

Similar Site Search is a free and simple to use search engine that helps you find similar, related, or alternative websites. The search engine collects and combines information about websites from many sources including the site itself. It then generates a list of websites based on the similarity of topics and categories.
Via The Presurfer

02 November 2011

The Periodic Table Of Music

Click image to enlarge

Detail

D. J. Glass | Deviant Art

Face Revealed In Testicle Ultrasound Image

Elsevier Inc.
... when the scrotal ultrasound of a 45-year-old patient with severe testicular pain and a possible mass revealed the surprising image of a man in distress, urologists at Queen’s University, in Ontario, followed proper scholarly procedure: They submitted it to Urology, the official journal of the International Society of Urology.

“The residents and staff alike were amazed to see the outline of a man’s face staring up out of the image, his mouth agape as if the face seen on the ultrasound scan itself was also experiencing severe epididymo-orchitis,” wrote the authors, G. Gregory Roberts and Naji J. Touma, in an article that appeared in the journal’s September issue. “A brief debate ensued on whether the image could have been a sign from a deity (perhaps ‘Min,’ the Egyptian god of male virility); however, the consensus deemed it a mere coincidental occurrence rather than a divine proclamation.”

The patient underwent an orchiectomy, or testicular removal, and the mass proved benign ...
Chronicle of Higher Education

Too Much Nature | Snake In ATM


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