Surprisingly intelligent bumble bees

Amazing stuff!

"In a new study bumble bees solved a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behaviour especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained. The findings challenge the long-standing assumption that spontaneous problem-solving is restricted to humans and other large-brained vertebrates.

More than 100 years ago, psychologist Wolfgang Köhler famously showed that chimpanzees could solve novel problems by suddenly combining objects in new ways, such as stacking boxes to reach an out-of-reach banana. These experiments became some of the earliest and most influential demonstrations of insight and spontaneous problem-solving in animals.

Now, researchers from the University of Oulu, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Turku report strikingly similar problem-solving abilities in bumble bees. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Recent research has revealed that bumble bees are much more cognitively advanced than previously thought: They play with balls, count, recognize faces, and even feel rhythm. However, it has not been shown that they could achieve one of the highest peaks of cognitive performance: the ability to spontaneously solve a problem. Bhambore et al. tested this ability by providing bees with a ball that could be used as a tool to reach an otherwise unreachable flower reward. Bees that had been allowed to play with a ball and experience the flower spontaneously learned to move the ball to access the flower when they were present together.

Abstract

Problem-solving using novel solutions without explicit training is often considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility. We investigated whether bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) could solve a novel object manipulation task spontaneously.

Bees trained to associate a blue ring (“flower”) on the floor with a reward successfully moved a ball underneath a flower relocated to the ceiling to reach the flower. In control experiments in which the flower was out of sight when ball movement began and remained hidden during transport, bees still succeeded in the task. These results suggest that these were goal-directed actions rather than reinforcement-based associations driven by perceptual feedback. Our findings provide evidence that bumble bees can exhibit spontaneous problem-solving, challenging the notion that such advanced cognitive abilities are exclusive to large-brained vertebrates."

In Science Journals | Science

Bumble bees show spontaneous problem-solving in study published in Science (original news release)

Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees (no public access)

A bumble bee standing on a ball beneath the artificial flower containing reward, illustrating the experimental solution.

No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools

No wonder cow milk tastes so good! 😊

"About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual. When Veronika had an itch, she would grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. Over the years, the brown bovid’s technique improved. She could pick up objects as large as a broom or rake and move them around with her prehensile tongue, changing their length and orientation to ensure the best possible scratch.

The behavior isn’t just a clever trick: It’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle, scientists report today in Current Biology. And, it turns out, one of Veronika’s skills has only been seen in humans and chimpanzees. ..."

From the abstract:

"Imagine the tools a cow would make. This idea, humorously illustrated in Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoon, captures a widespread assumption: cows are neither problem-solvers nor tool users.

In science, as in culture, livestock species are often cognitively underestimated 😊, reinforced by their utilitarian role and persistent mind-denial biases associated with meat consumption.

Despite over 10,000 years of domestication, research on cattle cognition remains scarce and confined to applied contexts such as productivity and welfare.

Tool use, while rarely observed, offers a stringent test of cognitive flexibility. Defined as the manipulation of an external object to achieve a goal via a mechanical interface, tooling ranges from species-typical routines to innovative, problem-specific acts.

We report here our experimental demonstration of flexible egocentric tooling in a pet cow (Bos taurus), Veronika, who uses a deck brush to self-scratch. Across randomized trials, she preferred the bristled end but switched to the stick end when targeting softer lower-body areas. This adaptive deployment of tool features reveals multi-purpose tool use not previously reported in non-primate mammals. Our findings broaden the taxonomic scope of flexible tool use and invite a reassessment of livestock cognition."

No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools | Science | AAAS

Source

Crows count ‘one, two, three’ out loud

Amazing stuff!

"Carrion crows are known as “feathered apes” for a number of good reasons. And scientists just discovered another: They can count out loud, researchers reported yesterday in Science. The work suggests that the birds understand numbers and counting in the same way humans do, making them the only other species known to have this ability.

One hallmark of human language is our ability to associate and utter a sound, such as a word, with something we see or hear. We might say “three” if we see three apples, for example. Could crows do this as well? To find out, a team worked with three carrion crows trained to produce one to four calls (a kraak) when they saw an Arabic numeral on a screen or heard a short noise. In thousands of trials, the birds usually made the correct number of kraaks required by the visual cue, but often took longer to respond to cues requiring three or four calls. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

Numerical ability has been increasingly identified in nonhuman animals. Animals as diverse as birds and bees have been shown to be able to “count, ” and they can discriminate among different numbers of objects or between greater or fewer objects. Liao et al. tested whether crows, which are known for both their numerical skills and high level of cognition, could use vocalizations to count out loud, a skill that is challenging even for young humans. The crows flexibly produced between one and four vocalizations for corresponding cues associated with numerical values. Furthermore, they used different calls for different numbers. ...

Abstract

Producing a specific number of vocalizations with purpose requires a sophisticated combination of numerical abilities and vocal control. Whether this capacity exists in animals other than humans is yet unknown. We show that crows can flexibly produce variable numbers of one to four vocalizations in response to arbitrary cues associated with numerical values. The acoustic features of the first vocalization of a sequence were predictive of the total number of vocalizations, indicating a planning process. Moreover, the acoustic features of vocal units predicted their order in the sequence and could be used to read out counting errors during vocal production."

Crows count ‘one, two, three’ out loud

Crows “count” the number of self-generated vocalizations (no public access)

The bees that can learn like humans

Learning by observing others!

Why Are Chinese So Smart?

Posted: 6/18/2017

Trigger

I was always interested in why is it that some populations have disproportionately more highly intelligent people than others. Something that in our so politically correct times in the West cannot be anymore discussed so easily.

I readily admit that I sure have missed some populations here. I bet there are also African peoples who display this phenomenon, but I do not know much about it yet. But there were certainly also e.g. exceptional kingdoms in African history.

I apologize to any people not mentioned here (e.g. Russians, Indians, Germans, French, Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans and many others).

Disclaimer

This post has absolutely nothing to do with any form of racism or any form of supremacy etc.!

First, About Jews

There are genetic factors; a historical tradition of and high regard for discourse and learning; constant persecution over the centuries; a very strong cohesion and storytelling; forced into modern, highly sophisticated professions like merchants or banking or jurisprudence or medical professions and so on.

Second, About Hungarians

I might be wrong, but for a small size population like the Hungarians it is surprising to realize how many outstanding scientists or mathematicians were Hungarians (Edward Teller,  John von Neumann). Unfortunately, I have not checked how many of them were Jews as well. It also appears that the Hungarian background is not always easy to detect (e.g. I had no clue that Milton Friedman’s parents were immigrants from Hungary and he was Jewish, and I am a big fan of him, or was it e.g. him that contributed to my impression that some Hungarians made outstanding achievements to humanity).

Unfortunately, I have not much a clue why these people have such an outstanding number of super intelligent men and women. Hungarians surely speak a peculiar language. Was the Austrian-Hungarian empire involved? Probably!

Now, To The Chinese People

I am sure, there are other reasons: e.g. large population, higher probability of some super smart people among them (likewise India); one of the oldest civilizations on earth (likewise India); oldest philosophies of learning and wisdom; ancient tradition of inventions and more …

Then, there is the unique, very old written and oral language of the Chinese. One of the most intractable, major languages for Westerners on this planet.

Just to memorize all of the about 2-3,000 different Chinese characters in common use despite their similarities and common features is a mind boggling feat of the brain. Beats any Western crossword puzzle or other mind or memory training games etc. any time.

Chinese is a tonal language with four major tones and one neutral tone. Can you imagine the number of permutations of characters and tones this allows for? Absolutely mind boggling! If you think Western classical music is a complex composition, try Chinese language.

Just to give an example, the Chinese phonetic word wei has, to my admittedly very limited understanding of the language, about a total of 400 differently spelled words and meanings associated with it, very, very roughly equally distributed over the four major tones. Of which about 80 words are in frequent, if not daily use and are recognised by many Chinese people.

I wonder how much wiring of neurons in the brain is necessary just to master this language?

The Chinese people still have to recover from several hundred years of self inflicted isolation from the rest of the world and from over 70 years of communist dictatorship, but the sleeping giant is awakening …

However, the complex Chinese language is also arguably the greatest obstacle for Chinese people to become world citizens. Perhaps automated natural language translation or artificial intelligence will help to bridge the language divide in the future. We can only hope the Chinese people will one day voluntarily adopt the simpler 26 alphabetical characters like we use in the West. A reverse adaptation is a bit unthinkable ...

What About The Scottish, Or Italians

I would believe that also the fairly small populations of the Scottish as well as others have a disportionately high incidence of very intelligent people (e.g. Adam Smith, James Clerk Maxwell, James Watt, Alexander Graham Bell, Lord Kelvin).

Italians, I regret that they may have reached their zenith perhaps a few centuries ago. I might be mistaken, but Italians (but also Greeks) might be an example where over history the output of very intelligent people has actually declined. Which Italians come to mind after Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei or Niccolo Machiavelli?

What Little Humans Know About Elephants!

Trigger

Just read article titled “The Science Is In: Elephants Are Even Smarter Than We Realized ”. Elephants scientists now figured out are much more smarter and empathetic than thought before.

Read the article! It is amazing stuff!

The Human Centric Viewpoint Got In The Way

Why was the intelligence of elephants underestimated for so long, scientists applied experiments suitable for humans or primates instead of investigating the natural strengths of the elephant.