4,004 results
4,004 results for: Dogs
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19090
A pet dog doesn’t have to be hungry to enjoy chewing on a bone. Perhaps dire wolves did enjoy a “glorious paradise” 15,000 years ago. Without other predators to chase them away from a kill, they had more leisure time to hang about and chew the bone. Matt FenskeSpokane, Wash. From 15,000 to 12,000 years […]
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19099
Other species recognize the different meanings in dogs’ barks, as well. I lived for several years next to a wonderful habitat for ducks. I fed the ducks cracked corn, and my Doberman pinscher would call them. The ducks only came to his “The human has food” bark. They didn’t respond to the “I hate bicycles” […]
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19105
As a trainer of tracking dogs, I was interested in your article about attempts to duplicate electronically the scenting ability of dogs. Even if these expensive, high-tech artificial dog noses are successful, however, they are not likely to be of much benefit to the “62 countries worldwide” strewn with “more than 100 million land mines.” […]
- Humans
Letters from the December 23 & 30, 2006, issue of Science News
Playing dead is a lively topic I am amazed that “Why Play Dead?” (SN: 10/28/06, p. 280) concluded that “Scientists have a long way to go to explain why” prey animals play dead. As a veterinarian, I have learned that there are separate centers in the brain dealing with predatory behavior and with hunger. The […]
- Math
Algebra, Philosophy, and Fun
I don’t often encounter the words “philosophy” and “fun” right next to the term “algebra.” Nowadays, these words don’t seem to fit together comfortably. However, the three terms do appear in the title of an engaging little book called Philosophy and Fun of Algebra, written by Mary Everest Boole (1832–1916) and published in 1909. I […]
- Math
Fibonacci’s Chinese Calendar
In a book completed in the year 1202, mathematician Leonardo of Pisa (also known as Fibonacci) posed the following problem: How many pairs of rabbits will be produced in a year, beginning with a single pair, if every month each pair bears a new pair that becomes productive from the second month on? The total […]
- Math
Pursuing Pursuit Curves
A pursuit curve is the path an object takes when chasing another object. Such a path might result from a fox pursuing a rabbit or a missile seeking a moving target. This set of superimposed “snapshots” shows the lines of sight at regular intervals of four “bugs” chasing one another, all moving at the same […]
