In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world

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Botanical Literature Goes Global:The Biodiversity Heritage Library

Scholars in the natural sciences rely on historic literature more than any other branch of science.Yet much of this material has limited global distribution and much of it is available in only a few select libraries.This wealth of knowledge is available only to those few who can gain direct access to significant library collections,a situation that is considered one of the chief impediments to the efficiency of research in the field.Community support and new technologies led to the formation of the Biodiversity Heritage Library.The BHL is an international collaboration of natural history libraries working together to make biodiversity literature available for use by the widest possible audience through open access and sustainable management.     

Extractive foraging and the evolution of primate intelligence

One of the two major theories regarding the evolution of intelligence in primates is that feeding strategies determine mental development. Evidence for this theory is reviewed and related to extractive foraging, which is the act of locating and/or processing embedded foods such as underground roots and insects or hard-shelled nuts and fruits. It is shown that, although only cebus monkeys and chimpanzees in the wild use tools in extractive foraging, many other species of mammals (including primates) and birds are capable of extracting embedded foods without tools. Extractive foraging by primates is compared to extractive foraging by other mammals and birds to assess whether: 1) extractive foraging involves cognition, and 2) extractive foraging by primates is unique in a way that may mean it played a role in the development of intelligence among primates. This comparison reveals that some acts of extractive foraging by nonprimates are equally sophisticated as those of primates. It is suggested that extractive foraging played no significant role in the evolution of primate intelligence. Hypotheses for testing precise differences in extractive foraging ability across taxa are offered, and the roles of olfactory cues, manual dexterity, and strength in extractive foraging are evaluated. In conclusion, the hominization process is briefly reviewed in relation to foraging behavior. A ?package? of traits that, in combination, is unique to hominids is discussed: tool-aided extractive foraging, division of labor by sex with food exchange, and feeding of juveniles.     

The role of cross-fostering in sign language studies of chimpanzees

In cross-fostering, the young of one species are reared by adults of another. In our cross-fostering laboratory, two-way communication by means of American Sign Language (ASL) brought the rearing conditions for chimpanzees much closer to those of human children than was possible in earlier studies. At the same time, ASL provided a means by which chimpanzees could express their intelligence in ways that permit closer comparisons with human children. Cross-fostered chimpanzees can communicate with human observers whose only source of information is the American Sign Language (ASL) signs of the chimpanzees. In order to show that the chimpanzees could name natural language categories — that the sign DOG could refer to any dog, FLOWER to any flower, SHOE to any shoe — each test trial was a first trial in that tests slides were presented only once. Analysis of errors showed that two aspects of the signs, gestural form and conceptual category, governed the distribution of errors. Like human adults and human children who sign, the chimpanzees modulated their signs in meaningful ways. Observations in field notes, video tape records, and systematic experiments illustrate how these modulations were related to the verbal and nonverbal, context and how they made signs more visible, more versatile, and more informative.     

A deep learning platform to assess drug proarrhythmia risk

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