by Carol Kaesuk Yoon W.W. Norton & Co. (500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110), 2009. 344 pages, hardcover. $27.95. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Though you may never have heard of either “taxonomy” or “cladistics,” the two central concepts in Carol Kaesuk Yoon’s 2009 opus Naming Nature, it remains a fascinating read for […]
Snooty, 69, last Florida manatee without propeller scars, drowns in tank
Oldest manatee on record was second born in captivity BRADENTON, Florida––Snooty, 69, both the oldest Florida manatee on record and the only Florida manatee on record who lacked scars from boat propellers, drowned on July 22, 2017 at the South Florida Aquarium in Bradenton, his almost lifelong home. Snooty had two scars on his […]
About robotic sex dolls & gadgets to help people talk to their dogs
Amazon.com bets on profits in plug-in relationships SEATTLE––The Amazon.com folks, with revenue of $136 billion a year, know a thing or two about sales and communication. Futurologist Will Higham must also know a thing or two about sales and communication, because Amazon.com recently hired Higham to help them figure out how to make more […]
Why is animal use in labs up, even as public moral approval is down?
Anti-vivisection organizations claim victory while running on old momentum WASHINGTON D.C.–– Fewer Americans than ever before––just 51%, barely more than half––believe biomedical research on animals is ethically acceptable, according to 2017 Gallup polling data. Paradoxically, total use of animals in experiments appears to have soared to an all-time high, according to research funded by People […]
“Rat-tickler” Jaak Panksepp, 73, showed that the last laugh is on us
The joke, Panksepp found, was on scientists who never realized that animals have senses of humor Jaak Panksepp, 73, the neuroscientist known as “The Rat-Tickler” for demonstrating through rat experiments that rats are as much motivated by having fun as people are, died of cancer on April 18, 2017 at his home in Bowling Green, Ohio. A […]
Humans evolved as a hunted species, discovered Robert Sussman, 74
Rejected belief that humans are violent by nature (See also Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, & Human Evolution.) Evolutionary anthropologist and primatologist Robert Sussman, 74, whose research helped to overturn the long commonly held belief that humans are violent and aggressive by nature, died on June 8, 2016 at his home in Creve Coeur, Missouri. He […]
More to the heads of sperm whales than Moby Dick & spermaceti
Brains & culture The heads of sperm whales returned to the news on April 7, 2016, long after they were last hunted for spermaceti, the oily substance that was once burned as the leading source of artificial light. “It took Herman Melville 135 chapters to get to the part in his 1851 classic Moby Dick,” wrote […]
Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals
by Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D. St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010), 2012. 308 pages, hardcover, $25.99. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton “My parents left Russia around the time of the Communist Revolution, and made the trek across Siberia to live in exile in China,” opens Con Slobodchikoff. “I was born in […]