Interesting Monkey

Bootsy

I dare you not to dance.

sibling stereotypes

I’ve always been fascinated with sibling stereotypes. The idea is that there are some general patterns that occur in aggregate based on your position on the sibling totem pole. The eldest siblings tend to be the most responsible, and the youngest the most free-wheeling, etc..

Here is an article, summarizing a new paper in the journal Animal Behavior¹. They give a metric to measure the level of cooperation, and also reciprocation in humans. Then they test both based on sibling order.

The eldest siblings faired the worst here on both counts. However, this did not hold true for “only children”, indicating that it is something that can get “switched on” environmentally at an older age.

speciation

This article (summarized from a PNAS paper) describes scientists witnessing a speciation event in finches (Geospiza fortis). From what I understand, this kind of event happens relatively frequently, and is more frequent in places like Australia. Kangaroos in particular speciate frequently I have heard.

The interesting thing about this one is that it has been witnessed within an individual naturally. They know precisely which birds started it.

As they point out, it is hard to know what will happen in the next number of generations, and whether or not they will mate with Geospiza fortis again. But definitely it’s a neat discovery.

more Crooked Vultures

This is a quick follow-up to my Them Crooked Vultures post the other day. The album comes out next Tuesday November 17th but can be streamed in its entirety on youtube here. There are some tracks where you can hear Led Zeppelin, Queens of the Stone Age and Dave Grohl. Probably the most representative such track is ‘Reptiles’. It’s prototypical Grohl again on this track, with simple, but syncopated rhythms.

pop quiz time

I’ve got a pop quiz. Head over to this website and count the number of times a player with a white shirt passes the basketball. Then come back here, scroll down and read the rest of this post.

Did you notice the gorilla? That is without question, an interesting monkey.

Also, don’t talk on your mobile phone while driving.

exercise and metaphorical wheaties

It’s super important for us “sit at the computer” foks to get lots of exercise and eat your metaphorical wheaties. This article is a fascinating look at the man who invented exercise, who I can’t help but love, as he turns 100.

“Every Sunday morning, if the weather was at all possible, I took off my coat, and my little boy carried my coat, I took off my jacket and my little girl carried my jacket, and I ran for 20 minutes. People thought I was bananas.”

Them Crooked Vultures

Dave Grohl is way underrated as a drummer. He’s the Ringo Starr of the last 20 years. With Dave, he’s got almost no technique. But it doesn’t matter at all. He’ll make it interesting and groove.

He’s most famous as a drummer for his work with Nirvana. But I just don’t love those records. He played the drums on the first two Foo Fighters albums which were good, but his best work was with Queens of the Stone Age, on their Songs For The Deaf album. That is an awesome album. Now he’s in a new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones from Zeppelin. Should be interesting. Their first single is very promising.. classic Dave. No subtlety at all, simple, but lots of surprises and groove.

New Fang by crookedvultures

compensating

Scientists nailed this one.

“Only the largest and dominant monkeys drummed, suggesting that drumming was used to communicate messages about power and status — the louder the drumming, the bigger and stronger the macaque likely is.”

I must be compensating.

booya

Pass the banana, humans.

I can see bananas!

I wonder if colour blindness will soon be a thing of the past?

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/15/tech-genetics-colour-blind-monkeys.html

This might very well work for humans.