Some Birds May Be As Clever As Apes Despite Having Tiny Brains

Bird brains might not be quite as useless as their puny size suggests, and may even contain structures that enable them to perform complex cognitive tasks normally associated with mammalian brains. This being the case, the authors of a new study in the journalTrends in Cognitive Science argue that certain high-level mental capabilities may not depend on brain size or structure, but on types of connectivity.

In mammalian brains, an area known as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) controls executive functions such as working memory, reasoning, and the ability to empathize with others. Covering most of the forebrain, the PFC is arranged in six layers – known as laminae – each of which contains a different type of neuronal cell and a particular pattern of connectivity.

The presence of this particular structure has therefore been identified as an essential precursor to the advanced cognitive abilities possessed only by mammals.

However, numerous studies over the past few decades have indicated that some birds may in fact possess mental aptitudes on par with certain species of primate. In one such study, an African grey parrot namedAlex learned to label items and used communication skills to solve a range of cognitive tasks. Other experiments have revealed that ravens employ cunning tactics to try and deceive others when competing for food, while magpies and jackdraws appear to recognize themselves in a mirror, indicating a level of self-awareness.

In light of such evidence, the authors of the new study suggest that bird brains must contain an equivalent to the PFC, which coordinates executive function yet occupies a much smaller volume than the mammalian cortex. Reviewing the literature on avian neuroanatomy compiled over several decades, they attempt to explain how “birds with small, non-cortical brains of 5 to 20 grams can show identical capabilities to apes with large cortices and brain weights of between 275 and 500 grams.”

African grey parrots are famous for their communication skills. FrameAngel/Shutterstock

They begin with the work of Harvey Karten, who showed in the 1960s that, even though avian and mammalian brains differ in structure, they actually contain many of the same types of neurons and patterns of connectivity. Future studies then showed that the neurons of an avian brain region called thenidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) connect with one another in a remarkably similar way to the neurons of the mammalian PFC.

For instance, the NCL has been shown to be packed with dopamine-releasing fibers, which delay the transmission of signals in order to store information during working memory tasks, in exactly the same way as the neurons in the PFCs of monkeys do.

Further studies have indicated that injuries to the NCL severely disrupt birds’ “decision making, rule tracking, encoding of subjective values, and the association of outcomes to actions.”

As such, the researchers claim that the NCL is the avian equivalent of the PFC. Remarkably, however, these two structures are entirely dissimilar in both their location within the brain and in form. For instance, the NCL does not contain laminae, seemingly discrediting the notion that the layered structure of the PFC is necessary for the development of advanced cognitive capacities. Instead, the type of connectivity between neurons may be a more reliable source of mental aptitude.

Furthermore, because the evolutionary lines of birds and mammals diverged some 300 million years ago, the researchers suggest that they probably did not both inherit this connectivity from a common ancestor, but evolved to possess it independently of one another.

As such, they claim that “the NCL and PFC possibly represent a spectacular case of evolutionary convergence,” which refers to the process by which unrelated species develop the same evolutionary traits.

Did You Know This About Dinosaurs?

photo credit: An artist’s impression showing the multiple injury points. You should have seen the other guy! Leandra Walters

Two paleontologists have uncovered evidence that a dinosaur fossil, excavated way back in 1942, was hiding a record number of injuries. It had at least eight bone fractures and sites of damage through infection. As the new study in PLOS ONE reveals, this beast lived on despite its dramatic injuries – but it probably would have been in a considerable amount of pain.

The dinosaur in question is a species called Dilophosaurus wetherilli, a feathered creature that roamed the Earth 193 million years ago, during the Early Jurassic. It was made famous by the film “Jurassic Park” as the small, venom-spitting reptile with a retractable frill around its neck, although these two features were fabrications.

In reality, this dinosaur was larger, at about six meters (20 feet) long and up to 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) in weight. Based on its frightening array of sharp teeth and powerful legs, it was a carnivore. This new study, which reexamined the original D. wetherilli fossil, reveals that it appeared to have experienced a range of injuries rather suddenly – perhaps the result of a single, brutal battle.

A fractured left shoulder blade, a serious bone infection in its left thumb, trauma to its upper right arm, and a break in its lower left arm are just some of its afflictions. It also appeared to have examples of bone deformation, leaving it with at least one permanently twisted finger; this is likely to be the result of a condition called osteodysplasia, where unusual skeletal growth causes imperfectly aligned or positioned joints or bones.

According to Phil Senter, a professor of biology at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina and co-author of the study, as this finger was always protruding from the hand, the dinosaur was constantly flipping the bird. “It wasn’t being rude,” Senter said in astatement. “It just couldn’t help it.”

The dinosaur’s right hand had a permanently extended finger. Phil Senter & Sara Juengest/PLOS ONE

A long section of bone in one of its forearms is also completely missing. Unlike mammals, dinosaurs were unable to re-grow lost bone, meaning that this particular Jurassic beast had to live without this chunk of bone for the rest of its life. The fractures, however, show signs of healing and growth, meaning that this dinosaur lived on for many more months or even several years after acquiring the injuries.

Its hands, presumably used in combat, were rendered partly inoperable, meaning that it would have been unable to pounce on large dinosaurs in order to kill and consume them. Consequently, it would likely have had to live off smaller, passive prey to get by, which may have caused it to experience a dramatic loss in weight.

The cause of these eight injuries is impossible to determine for sure, but the authors suggest that a battle with a fellow dinosaur may have been to blame. Being thrown quite aggressively against a rock or tree while fending off a predator, or even some particularly defensive prey, may have done the trick.

All in all, this D. wetherilli has the most upper-body injuries ever seen for a theropod dinosaur, a group of bipedal, mostly carnivorous dinosaurs. The previous record-holder was a Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue, which had four bone injuries.

Did you know? (Issue 1)

This topic will shed light on some of the recently discovered facts and information from many parts of the world. Some of them is really impressing and worth knowing and memorizing.
1. JELLYFISH KILL MORE PEOPLE EACH YEAR THAN SHARKS DO.

Jellyfish is reportedly 15 – 30 times deadlier than sharks. Some species of stinging jellyfish are almost invisible in the water and the first warning anyone may get is large numbers of people leaving the water with painful, itching stings. Even after it is dead, the jellyfish can still continue stinging. The stingers activate upon touch and work whether the tentacle is still attached to a living jellyfish or not. Talk about a zombie ha?!!
2. DOGS UNDERSTAND HUMAN PERSPECTIVE.

A recent study revealed that dogs are much likely to steal food in the dark when humans cannot see them which indicates that they somehow understand that what they are doing is not right from a human’s point of view.
3. CHILDREN’S DAY!


India actually celebrates Children’s Day on November 14th which is exactly 9 months after Valentine’s Day. I guess protection is off the table during that day!!

5. FACEBOOK LANGUAGE.



You can actually change Facebook language to upside down or pirate if you want to. Jack Sparrow would be happy. Hey, how come there is no Klingon option?!!

6. MILLIONAIRES.



Half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business. Around 80% of them are college graduates. Only 18% of millionaires have a Master’s Degree. 8% have law degrees, 6% have medical degrees and 6% have a PhD. I mean, if they can do it, why can’t we?

7. ST. VALENTINE.

In addition to love, St. Valentine is the patron saint of plague. How is that for a contradiction?!!

8. OH JAPAN!!

In Japan, women give chocolates on Valentine’s day. Men are supposed to return the favor a month later on White Day, March 14th.

9. HOW MANY PEOPLE SHARE YOUR BIRTHDAY?

You share your birthday with approximately 9 million other people in the world. Let’s put that to the test shall we? Mine is September 13th; who has the same birthday?

STAY TUNED FOR MORE AWESOME TOPICS EVERYDAY.

Some scientific facts that will leave you speechless

It is really sad that only few people are into science nowadays. I think this is mainly due to the way science is portrayed and taught to kids at schools all around the world. Why can’t we learn science and still make if fun and interesting at the same time? Is it a bad idea to ask comedians, for instance, to include some science facts in their jokes? It is an idea worth mentioning and discussing I think.

With that being said, here are some amazing science facts that will literally blow your mind. These kind of facts just continue to amaze me and keeps me hungry for more. It just proves that with all the things we have learned in the world still have an ocean of facts to dive into.

IT CAN TAKE A PHOTON 40,000 YEARS TO TRAVEL FROM THE CORE OF THE SUN TO ITS SURFACE, BUT ONLY 8 MINUTES TO TRAVEL THE REST OF THE WAY TO EARTH

A photon travels, on average, a particular distance, d, before being briefly absorbed and released by an atom, which scatters it in a new random direction.From the core to the sun’s surface (696,000 kilometers) where it can escape into space, a photon needs to make a huge number of drunken jumps. The calculation is a little tricky, but the conclusion is that a photon takes between many thousands and many millions of years to drunkenly wander to the surface of the Sun. In a way, the light that reaches us today is energy produced maybe millions of years ago. Isn’t that just amazing! (image source)

THERE ARE 8 TIMES AS MANY ATOMS IN A TEASPOONFUL OF WATER AS THERE ARE TEASPOONFULS OF WATER IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

A teaspoon of water (about 5 ml) contains 2×1023 water molecules, but each water molecule is comprised of 3 atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen. Moreover, if you’d laid down end to end each water molecule from a teaspoon full you’d end up with a length of 50 billion km or 10 times the width of our solar system. (image source)

IF BETELGEUSE WOULD EXPLODE TRANSITING FROM THE RED SUPER GIANT STAGE TO SUPERNOVA THEN OUR SKY WOULD LIGHT CONTINUOUSLY FOR TWO MONTHS. IT CAN HAPPEN ANYTIME, WITHIN A COUPLE OF THOUSAND YEARS, TOMORROW OR EVEN NOW!!

Betelgeuse lies some 430 light-years from Earth. Yet it’s already one of the brightest stars in Earth’s sky. The reason is that Betelgeuse is a super-giant star – the largest kind of stars in the Universe. Betelgeuse has a luminosity about 10,000 times that of the Sun and its radius is calculated to be about 370 times that of the sun. If it were positioned at the center of our sun, its radius would extend out past the radius of Mars. Because it’s near the end of its lifetime, Betelgeuse is likely to explode into a supernova. (image source)

THERE IS ENOUGH DNA IN AN AVERAGE PERSON’S BODY TO STRETCH FROM THE SUN TO PLUTO AND BACK. 17 TIMES

The human genome, the genetic code in each human cell, contains 23 DNA molecules each containing from 500 thousand to 2.5 million nucleotide pairs. DNA molecules of this size are 1.7 to 8.5 cm long when uncoiled, or about 5 cm on average. There are about 37 trillion cells in the human body and if you’d uncoil all of the DNA encased in each cell and put them end to end, then these would sum to a total length of 2×1014 meters or enough for 17 Pluto round trips (1.2×1013 meters/Pluto round trip). (image source)

HOW BIG IS THE UNIVERSE?!!

The known universe is made up of 50,000,000,000 galaxies. There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy. In the Milky Way alone there might be as many 100,000,000 planets. Do you still think you are alone?!! (image source)

THE AVERAGE HUMAN BODY CARRIES TEN TIMES MORE BACTERIAL CELLS THAN HUMAN CELLS

It’s funny how we compulsively wash our hands, spray our countertops and grimace when someone sneezes near us—in fact, we do everything we can to avoid unnecessary encounters with the germ world. The truth of the matter is that each and every one of us is a walking petri dish! All the bacteria living inside you would fill a half-gallon jug or 10 times more bacterial cells in your body than human cells, according to Carolyn Bohach, a microbiologist at the University of Idaho. Don’t worry, though. Most of these bacteria are helpful; in fact, we couldn’t survive without them.

For one thing, bacteria produce chemicals that help us harness energy and nutrients from our food. Germ-free rodents have to consume nearly a third more calories than normal rodents to maintain their body weight, and when the same animals were later given a dose of bacteria, their body fat levels spiked, even if they didn’t eat any more than they had before. The gut bacteria is also very important to maintaining immunity. (image source)

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