dogs

The new Canine Cognition Lab at Harvard University is studying how dogs behave and how they comprehend the world around them. (Note: if you live in the area, they're also recruiting subjects.)

Also in today's links: deafened dolphins, tailing elephants, and Paul Rudd.

It's always the pretty ones who get the attention. Scientists trying to raise awareness about a mysterious illness affecting bat populations along the East Coast say that bats' sketchy reputation keeps them from getting the attention they deserve.

But being cute didn't help little puppies in Hungary circa 900-1200 AD. New research shows that sacrifices of adult and baby dogs was more widespread than previously thought. The domestic animals were thought to have been killed to protect against evil. (Although apparently not the evil of killing puppies.)

Also in today's links: why it's okay to read this at work, another study on testosterone and risk, and more.

A class in creation studies at Liberty University appears to be as strange as one might expect. Best quote on the subject: "If a frog turns into a prince with a kiss then it's a fairy tale. If a frog turns into a prince over millions of years, it's science," says the director of the school's center for creation studies. "It's almost ridiculous."

Also in today's links: cell phone projectors, the next e-reader, and more.

Many millennia ago, man created dog. As the story goes, gray wolves in East Asia took to the comforts of human camp life somewhere between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago. People bred their new canine companions for docility and other favored traits. Dogs then accompanied humans crossing the Bering Strait into the Americas 12,000–14,000 years ago.

Giving dogs and clams a new lease on life, mini-nuclear power plants, and more, in today's crop of radioactive links.