Pigeons may sometimes appear to randomly target city sculptures with their droppings, but according to a new Japanese study they also have the potential to become discerning art critics.
Researchers at Tokyo’s Keio University say they have found that the birds have “advanced perceptive abilities” and can distinguish between “good” and “bad” paintings, recognising beauty the way humans do.
The team — which previously published research saying that pigeons can tell a Monet from a Picasso — was seeking to find out whether the animals may also be able to prefer one to the other.
For their experiment, the scientists took paintings by elementary school children and selected those that were commonly deemed to be “good” and “bad” by teachers and a control group of other adults.
Continue reading ‘Japan study : Pigeons have Eye for Paintings’
Scientists have found the fossil of a 60-million-year-old creature in Morocco, which is the rabbit sized ancestor of the modern day elephant.
Paleontologist Emmanuel Gheerbrant discovered the rabbit-size proto-elephant’s skull fragments in a basin 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Casablanca, Morocco.
The creature, called Eritherium azzouzorum, bolsters the case that whole new orders of mammals were already around less than 6 million years after global catastrophe ended the age of reptiles some 65.5 million years ago.
Elephant ancestors now join the likes of rodents and early primates as some of the first known mammals to walk the Earth during the Paleocene era, 65.5 to 55 million years ago (prehistoric time line), according to Gheerbrant. Continue reading ‘60-mln yr old rabbit-sized elephant ancestor found in Morocco’
Israeli archaeologists have uncovered an ancient quarry where they believe King Herod extracted stones for the construction of the Jewish Temple 2,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday. The archaeologists believe the 1,000-square-foot (100-square-meter) quarry was part of a much larger network of quarries used by Herod in the city.
The biggest stones extracted from the quarry would have measured three yards (meters) long, two yards (meters) across, and two yards (meters) high.
The archaeologists said the size of the stones indicates they could have been used in the construction of the Temple compound, including the Western Wall, a retaining wall that remains intact and is a Jewish shrine.
“The dimensions of the stones that were produced in the quarry that was revealed are suitable for the Temple walls,” said Ofer Sion, the dig’s director.
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The process know as the greenhouse effect earns its description from a comparison between the temperature of air inside a greenhouse compared to the air outside. Known to many as global warming, its is one of the most frightening man made phenomena of the 21st century. At the end of 2006, scientists confirm that the average temperature of the planet has shown an increase of up to 1 C every year for the last five. This increase had proved beneficial for just a few regions in the World especially those of higher latitude.
However, the negative impacts of the greenhouse effect on the World’s climate change are being observed already through the overall effect in constant annual temperature increases.
Continue reading ‘The Green House Effect’
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