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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
You are one smart monkey!
Baby Chimps Given Human Love Ace IQ Tests
Motherly Love | Discovery News Video Feb. 2, 2009 -- Orphaned infant chimpanzees that received attentive, nurturing care from human surrogate mothers were found to be more intellectually advanced than the average human baby when both groups were compared at the age of nine months, according to a new study published in the latest issue of Developmental Psychobiology.
The authors believe the study is the first to ever examine how different types of human care can affect the cognitive development and overall well being of infant chimpanzees.
"The early rearing environment is incredibly important for chimpanzee infants as it is for humans," co-author Kim Bard told Discovery News.
Bard, a professor of comparative developmental psychology at the University of Portsmouth, conducted the research with colleagues Marinus van Ijzendoorn, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg and Krisztina Ivan.
WATCH VIDEO: Meet Gregoire, Africa's oldest known chimpanzee. Related Content:
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Get the Latest in Science and Tech News From Discovery
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HowStuffWorks: Can Chimps Learn Human Language?
Whiz Chimps Outsmart College Students
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The chimpanzee participants consisted of 46 male and female orphan infants that received either standard or responsive care from human surrogate mothers. Standard care met food and health needs, but provided no additional social and emotional nurturing from the caretakers, although the chimps had access to their primate peers.
Responsive care involved daily four-hour-long mom sessions, where the humans would play with the infant chimps, encouraging their motor development and communication skills while helping them to meet new challenges with curiosity instead of distress.
When the chimps were nine months old, they took an IQ test normally used to evaluate human infant development. Bard explained that typical items on the cognitive test required the chimps to "imitate scribbling on paper," look at pictures in a book as the examiner pointed to each one, and pick up a cup to find a block hidden underneath.
The infant chimps aced the test, even surpassing the scores of average human infants tested at the same age.
Follow-up studies on the chimpanzees are planned, but comparisons between humans and chimpanzees at later ages are complicated by the fact that the two primates interact with themselves and the world in different ways. Humans also define intelligence with our particular abilities as the yardstick.
"There are many domains of development, such as emotional, social, cognitive, communicative and motoric," Bard said. "Because of the differences in rearing or even cultural experiences, in interaction with development among these domains, it is difficult to pinpoint ages when 'the typical human' surpasses 'the typical chimpanzee.'"
She added, "Clearly the extensive linguistic ability of humans, and their ability to construct complex objects, such as the computer I'm using now, are beyond the capacity of chimpanzees."
Lisa Newbern of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center informed Discovery News that the chimpanzees were tested there, but only up until 1995, when the Yerkes Great Ape Nursery Closed.
"The NIH (National Institutes of Health) issued a breeding moratorium on chimpanzees that same year," Newbern said.
Bates explained that the current study "required extensive microanalysis and collaborative efforts" that resulted in the new paper.
Bates and her colleagues hope that conservation of African rainforests, along with "providing the best possible conditions" for chimpanzees at zoos and other places, will help them "to flourish in many different settings."
Van Ijzendoorn added that other studies on human babies suggest they can also excel or decline depending on the care they receive at this critical time of early life.
"At the moment, hundreds of thousands of orphans -- either social orphans abandoned by their parents or orphans who lost their parents because of AIDS (and other reasons) -- are raised in orphanages in Eastern European countries, Africa, China, India and elsewhere," he said, concluding that "enrichment of the environment in the orphanages can make a big difference in cognitive development, and we think also for emotional development."
Motherly Love | Discovery News Video Feb. 2, 2009 -- Orphaned infant chimpanzees that received attentive, nurturing care from human surrogate mothers were found to be more intellectually advanced than the average human baby when both groups were compared at the age of nine months, according to a new study published in the latest issue of Developmental Psychobiology.
The authors believe the study is the first to ever examine how different types of human care can affect the cognitive development and overall well being of infant chimpanzees.
"The early rearing environment is incredibly important for chimpanzee infants as it is for humans," co-author Kim Bard told Discovery News.
Bard, a professor of comparative developmental psychology at the University of Portsmouth, conducted the research with colleagues Marinus van Ijzendoorn, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg and Krisztina Ivan.
WATCH VIDEO: Meet Gregoire, Africa's oldest known chimpanzee. Related Content:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get the Latest in Science and Tech News From Discovery
Monkeys, Humans Tie in Memory Game
HowStuffWorks: Can Chimps Learn Human Language?
Whiz Chimps Outsmart College Students
Treehugger: W. African Chimp Population in Decline
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The chimpanzee participants consisted of 46 male and female orphan infants that received either standard or responsive care from human surrogate mothers. Standard care met food and health needs, but provided no additional social and emotional nurturing from the caretakers, although the chimps had access to their primate peers.
Responsive care involved daily four-hour-long mom sessions, where the humans would play with the infant chimps, encouraging their motor development and communication skills while helping them to meet new challenges with curiosity instead of distress.
When the chimps were nine months old, they took an IQ test normally used to evaluate human infant development. Bard explained that typical items on the cognitive test required the chimps to "imitate scribbling on paper," look at pictures in a book as the examiner pointed to each one, and pick up a cup to find a block hidden underneath.
The infant chimps aced the test, even surpassing the scores of average human infants tested at the same age.
Follow-up studies on the chimpanzees are planned, but comparisons between humans and chimpanzees at later ages are complicated by the fact that the two primates interact with themselves and the world in different ways. Humans also define intelligence with our particular abilities as the yardstick.
"There are many domains of development, such as emotional, social, cognitive, communicative and motoric," Bard said. "Because of the differences in rearing or even cultural experiences, in interaction with development among these domains, it is difficult to pinpoint ages when 'the typical human' surpasses 'the typical chimpanzee.'"
She added, "Clearly the extensive linguistic ability of humans, and their ability to construct complex objects, such as the computer I'm using now, are beyond the capacity of chimpanzees."
Lisa Newbern of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center informed Discovery News that the chimpanzees were tested there, but only up until 1995, when the Yerkes Great Ape Nursery Closed.
"The NIH (National Institutes of Health) issued a breeding moratorium on chimpanzees that same year," Newbern said.
Bates explained that the current study "required extensive microanalysis and collaborative efforts" that resulted in the new paper.
Bates and her colleagues hope that conservation of African rainforests, along with "providing the best possible conditions" for chimpanzees at zoos and other places, will help them "to flourish in many different settings."
Van Ijzendoorn added that other studies on human babies suggest they can also excel or decline depending on the care they receive at this critical time of early life.
"At the moment, hundreds of thousands of orphans -- either social orphans abandoned by their parents or orphans who lost their parents because of AIDS (and other reasons) -- are raised in orphanages in Eastern European countries, Africa, China, India and elsewhere," he said, concluding that "enrichment of the environment in the orphanages can make a big difference in cognitive development, and we think also for emotional development."
Friday, January 30, 2009
Al Gore on greenhouse gases
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Oldest living former MLB player Bill Werber dies at 100
Werber hit in front of Ruth, starred for Duke
By Scott Fowlersfowler@charlotteobserver.com
6/13/08 Bill Werber, of Charlotte, NC is recognized as the oldest living major league ballplayer; he is the oldest living World Series player, and is also the oldest living former player for either the Yankees or the Red Sox. Born on June 20, 1908, Werber will turn 100 next Friday. He is a graduate of Duke University. Werber played for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Philaldelphia Athletics, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. JEFF SINER -- jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
Bill Werber, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player and the first basketball All-American at Duke, died Thursday in Charlotte.
He was 100.
Werber had lived in Charlotte since 1998 at the Carriage Club retirement community to be near daughter Pat Bryant, who closely supervised his day-to-day care.
Even into his late 90s, Werber would stay up past his normal 9 p.m. bedtime to watch Duke basketball games on TV.
He often wore a Duke golf shirt and usually kept a Duke blanket wrapped around his legs.
“For the past few weeks, though,” Bryant said Thursday, “Daddy said he was too tired to watch the Duke games. That's when we knew it was time.”
Werber died of natural causes and will be cremated, Bryant said.
A superb athlete, he played alongside Babe Ruth for part of Werber's 11-year career in the majors, which ended in 1942. Werber was a solid third baseman and one of the fastest men of his era, specializing in stolen bases.
Werber won a World Series in 1940 with the Cincinnati Reds, batting .370 in that World Series and getting 10 hits.
As a 5-foot-10 guard in basketball, he was an All-American for Duke in 1930, playing for a Blue Devils squad coached by Eddie Cameron that went 18-2.
Werber grew up in what is now College Park, Md. As a pro baseball player, he never made more than $13,500 in any one season.
But he became a successful businessman in Maryland, earning more than $100,000 in his first year selling insurance.
He would later retire to Naples, Fla., living there 28 years before moving to Charlotte.
Werber said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer in June 2008, just before his 100th birthday, that his secret to longevity was this: “I don't drink, I don't smoke and I married a lovely girl who never got mad.”
Kathryn “Tat” Werber died in 2000, after she and Bill had been married 70 years.
Werber is survived by the couple's three children – William Werber, Pat Bryant and Susie Hill – as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
In the 2008 Observer interview, Werber also recalled a story about his first at-bat in the major leagues in 1930. He played for the New York Yankees then and drew a walk because, he said: “I was too scared to move.”
Ruth came up soon thereafter and slammed the ball to deep right field.
“I knew it was going into the right-field bleachers,” Werber said. “But I said to myself, ‘I'll show these Yankees how fast I can run.' So I put on a burst of speed and ran around the bases. The third-base coach was hollering for me to slow down, but I ran on in at full speed.
“I crossed home plate before Babe got to first base – he took those little mincing steps, you know. When Babe came in to the dugout, he sat on the bench beside me. He patted me on the head and said, ‘Son, you don't have to run like that when the Babe hits one.'”
While Werber was proud of his accomplishments in sports, he was even prouder of his kin.
In his apartment at his retirement community, he displayed zero pieces of baseball memorabilia.
He covered the walls instead with pictures of his family.
Bill Werber sounds like the kind pf person I would always hope to be.
Werber hit in front of Ruth, starred for Duke
By Scott Fowlersfowler@charlotteobserver.com
6/13/08 Bill Werber, of Charlotte, NC is recognized as the oldest living major league ballplayer; he is the oldest living World Series player, and is also the oldest living former player for either the Yankees or the Red Sox. Born on June 20, 1908, Werber will turn 100 next Friday. He is a graduate of Duke University. Werber played for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Philaldelphia Athletics, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. JEFF SINER -- jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
Bill Werber, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player and the first basketball All-American at Duke, died Thursday in Charlotte.
He was 100.
Werber had lived in Charlotte since 1998 at the Carriage Club retirement community to be near daughter Pat Bryant, who closely supervised his day-to-day care.
Even into his late 90s, Werber would stay up past his normal 9 p.m. bedtime to watch Duke basketball games on TV.
He often wore a Duke golf shirt and usually kept a Duke blanket wrapped around his legs.
“For the past few weeks, though,” Bryant said Thursday, “Daddy said he was too tired to watch the Duke games. That's when we knew it was time.”
Werber died of natural causes and will be cremated, Bryant said.
A superb athlete, he played alongside Babe Ruth for part of Werber's 11-year career in the majors, which ended in 1942. Werber was a solid third baseman and one of the fastest men of his era, specializing in stolen bases.
Werber won a World Series in 1940 with the Cincinnati Reds, batting .370 in that World Series and getting 10 hits.
As a 5-foot-10 guard in basketball, he was an All-American for Duke in 1930, playing for a Blue Devils squad coached by Eddie Cameron that went 18-2.
Werber grew up in what is now College Park, Md. As a pro baseball player, he never made more than $13,500 in any one season.
But he became a successful businessman in Maryland, earning more than $100,000 in his first year selling insurance.
He would later retire to Naples, Fla., living there 28 years before moving to Charlotte.
Werber said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer in June 2008, just before his 100th birthday, that his secret to longevity was this: “I don't drink, I don't smoke and I married a lovely girl who never got mad.”
Kathryn “Tat” Werber died in 2000, after she and Bill had been married 70 years.
Werber is survived by the couple's three children – William Werber, Pat Bryant and Susie Hill – as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
In the 2008 Observer interview, Werber also recalled a story about his first at-bat in the major leagues in 1930. He played for the New York Yankees then and drew a walk because, he said: “I was too scared to move.”
Ruth came up soon thereafter and slammed the ball to deep right field.
“I knew it was going into the right-field bleachers,” Werber said. “But I said to myself, ‘I'll show these Yankees how fast I can run.' So I put on a burst of speed and ran around the bases. The third-base coach was hollering for me to slow down, but I ran on in at full speed.
“I crossed home plate before Babe got to first base – he took those little mincing steps, you know. When Babe came in to the dugout, he sat on the bench beside me. He patted me on the head and said, ‘Son, you don't have to run like that when the Babe hits one.'”
While Werber was proud of his accomplishments in sports, he was even prouder of his kin.
In his apartment at his retirement community, he displayed zero pieces of baseball memorabilia.
He covered the walls instead with pictures of his family.
Bill Werber sounds like the kind pf person I would always hope to be.
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