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Monkeys “imitate with a purpose”, matching their behaviour to others’ as a form of social learning, researchers have found. Such mimicry has previously been seen only in great apes – including humans and chimps – but now Italian researchers have recorded wonderful footage of the phenomenon in newborn rhesus macaques.
2006-09-05
animal chimpanzee social imitation learningThe dreams might reflect the brain's attempt to find associations for the memories that could make them more useful in the future.
2010-04-23
memory brain learning dream sleep association search engine backgroundApplying a tiny electrical current to the brain could make you better at learning maths.
2010-11-04
electricity brain learning education mathematicsYoung New Caledonian crows learn to use tools by going to "tool-school", where they can observe their parents at work. These crows are renowned for their extraordinary intelligence and ability to fashion tools to solve problems. Now a new study has revealed more about how they do it: wild New Caledonian crows live in unusually small family groups, scientists say. That allows parent birds to take juveniles to tool-using sites, and...
2010-10-26
crow bird animal intelligence school copying learning education toolIBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain. The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work. Researchers believe that that by replicating that feature, the technology could start to learn.
2011-08-18
IBM brain synapse neural computing processor computer learningTests given to an Amazonian tribe called the Mundurucu suggest that our intuitions about geometry are innate. Researchers examined how the Mundurucu think about lines, points and angles, comparing the results with equivalent tests on French and US schoolchildren. The Mundurucu showed comparable understanding, and even outperformed the students on tasks that asked about forms on spherical surfaces.
2011-05-24
sphere Euclid geometry language mathematics linguistics tribe Amazon learning education philosophy anthropologyGenetically identical forest trees raised in different environments react differently when exposed to drought conditions
2011-07-12
genetics tree plant communication learning adaptation evolution nature botany memory