What's that organ in whales?
The group of whales called rorquals gulp vast amounts of water, then expel it through their comblike baleen plates to filter out millions of fish for consumption in seconds. The technique requires a complex and rapid movement of the jaws. Now scientists have discovered a sensory organ in the whales' chins that helps them orchestrate it.
Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers explain that the organ is composed of connective tissue and suspended in a gel-like substance in the space between the tips of the two lower jawbones. "It's analogous to having a water balloon in between two telephone poles," said the study's first author, Nicholas D Pyenson, a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Pyenson and his colleagues believe that the organ informs the brain about the position of the jaw and enables the whale to open and close it rapidly. The researchers also found that the nerves that go into the sensory organs are the same nerves that connect with chin hairs; these hairs and the newly discovered organ may also be helping the whales locate prey. The rorquals - including blue, humpback and fin whales - are difficult to study because of their great size, but researchers were given access to two carcasses at a whaling station in Iceland.
"Whales are not laboratory animals," Pyenson said. "There are still many outstanding questions; we don't know how they find prey and how they hear each other."
'Goldilocks effect' & hunger to learn
Infants are constantly trying to make sense of the world around them, and they do this by seeking out situations that are neither too simple nor too complex. Writing in the journal PLoS One, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester call it the "Goldilocks effect."
Babies "are seeking out the type of learning material from the world that's most efficient for them to learn from," said the study's lead author, Celeste Kidd, a cognitive scientist at the university.
Her team measured the attention patterns of 72 infants, ages 7 and 8 months, as they watched video animations while an eye-tracking device below the screen followed their gaze. The babies lost interest when the pattern of objects displayed on the screen became too predictable. And they also lost interest when the sequence became too surprising and random. The study suggests that infants are much more actively engaged in seeking out information from the world than previously thought, Kidd said.
And that means that they do not need fancy toys to learn, she said. A reasonably stimulating environment provides rich possibilities. "Every parent wants to give their kid the best opportunities possible," she said. "But the child is playing with whatever is in front of them; they're doing the best with it they can."
Sindya N BhanooNew York Times News Service
The group of whales called rorquals gulp vast amounts of water, then expel it through their comblike baleen plates to filter out millions of fish for consumption in seconds. The technique requires a complex and rapid movement of the jaws. Now scientists have discovered a sensory organ in the whales' chins that helps them orchestrate it.
Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers explain that the organ is composed of connective tissue and suspended in a gel-like substance in the space between the tips of the two lower jawbones. "It's analogous to having a water balloon in between two telephone poles," said the study's first author, Nicholas D Pyenson, a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Pyenson and his colleagues believe that the organ informs the brain about the position of the jaw and enables the whale to open and close it rapidly. The researchers also found that the nerves that go into the sensory organs are the same nerves that connect with chin hairs; these hairs and the newly discovered organ may also be helping the whales locate prey. The rorquals - including blue, humpback and fin whales - are difficult to study because of their great size, but researchers were given access to two carcasses at a whaling station in Iceland.
"Whales are not laboratory animals," Pyenson said. "There are still many outstanding questions; we don't know how they find prey and how they hear each other."
'Goldilocks effect' & hunger to learn
Infants are constantly trying to make sense of the world around them, and they do this by seeking out situations that are neither too simple nor too complex. Writing in the journal PLoS One, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester call it the "Goldilocks effect."
Babies "are seeking out the type of learning material from the world that's most efficient for them to learn from," said the study's lead author, Celeste Kidd, a cognitive scientist at the university.
Her team measured the attention patterns of 72 infants, ages 7 and 8 months, as they watched video animations while an eye-tracking device below the screen followed their gaze. The babies lost interest when the pattern of objects displayed on the screen became too predictable. And they also lost interest when the sequence became too surprising and random. The study suggests that infants are much more actively engaged in seeking out information from the world than previously thought, Kidd said.
And that means that they do not need fancy toys to learn, she said. A reasonably stimulating environment provides rich possibilities. "Every parent wants to give their kid the best opportunities possible," she said. "But the child is playing with whatever is in front of them; they're doing the best with it they can."
Sindya N BhanooNew York Times News Service