Great apes make sophisticated decisions

ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2011) ? Max-Planck-researchers have shown that chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans make decisions carefully.

Chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos make more sophisticated decisions than was previously thought. Great apes weigh their chances of success, based on what they know and the likelihood to succeed when guessing, according to a study of MPI researcher Daniel Haun, published on December 21 in the online journal PLoS ONE. The findings may provide insight into human decision-making as well.

The authors of the study, led by Daniel Haun of the Max Planck Institutes for Psycholinguistics (Nijmegen) and Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig), investigated the behaviour of all four non-human great ape species. The apes were presented with two banana pieces: a smaller one, which was always reliably in the same place, and a larger one, which was hidden under one of multiple cups, and therefore the riskier choice.

The researchers found that the apes' choices were regulated by their uncertainty and the probability of success for the risky choice, suggesting sophisticated decision-making. Apes chose the small piece more often when they where uncertain where the large piece was hidden. The lower their chances to guess correctly, the more often they chose the small piece.

The researchers also found that the apes went for the larger piece -- and risked getting nothing at all -- no less than 50% of the time. This risky decision-making increased to nearly 100% when the size difference between the two banana pieces was largest. While all four species demonstrated sophisticated decision making strategies, chimpanzees and orangutans were overall more likely to make risky choices relative to gorillas and bonobos. The precise reason for this discrepancy remains unknown.

Haun concludes: "Our study adds to the growing evidence that the mental life of the other great apes is much more sophisticated than is often assumed."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Daniel B. M. Haun, Christian Nawroth, Josep Call. Great Apes' Risk-Taking Strategies in a Decision Making Task. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (12): e28801 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028801

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111229091636.htm

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Android 4.0 update for Sony Tablet S confirmed

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Source: www.eurodroid.com --- Wednesday, December 28, 2011
#leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { width: 50%; padding-top: 1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float: left; margin: 4px 4px 4px 4px; } Sony hasn?t given any indication of a timeline for the arrival of Android 4.0 for its Tablet S, but at least it?s on the way at some point. In a short comment on its user support forums , a Sony employee confirmed the plan to bring the ICS update to the larger of Sony?s quirky Android pair, saying: ?We?re happy to confirm that an update to Android 4.0 will be available for Sony Tablet. Details including timing will be announced in due course, so please stay tuned.? We assume that by ?Sony Tablet? it specifically means the Tablet S. But it could mean the odd dual-screen Tablet P as well. But it might not. We just don?t know. This vague news piece brought to you courtesy of the Christmas news lull. Related posts: Sony Tablet S price cut ? now ?349 at Dixons chain Sony launches ?180 day free trial? Music Unlimited app for Sony Tablet Sony Tablet P now available ? ?499 in the UK ...

Source: http://www.eurodroid.com/2011/12/28/android-4-0-update-for-sony-tablet-s-confirmed/

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Top Automakers Converging at Automotive World

At Automotive World 2012 Technical Conference, world?s leading companies such as Toyota, GM, VW, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Daimler, Robert Bosch, and others will reveal their latest strategies and development situation on the hottest topics. The event is being held Jan. 18 ? 20, 2012 in Tokyo.

According to show organizers, speakers will come from ?Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Daimler, AUDI, Mazda, Robert Bosch, Denso, and Infineon Technologies.

Over 30 market leaders will express their views on topics such as electric vehicles, weight reduction, next-generation informatics, the key to grab the emerging markets, and so on.

At the Keynote Session, key persons from Toyota, Volkswagen and Ford will speak on ?Future Automotive Electronics for Next-generation Vehicles?

Key persons to speak about development of next-generation vehicles are: Yoshida from Toyota Motors, who is managing officer in charge of control technologies and electronics, Krebs from Volkswagen, executive VP and head of group E-Traction, and Ms. Gioia from Ford Motor, director of Global Electrification.

A new topic will join the Technical Conference this year. It?s Weight Reduction Technologies, which are becoming important with compact and more fuel-efficient vehicles coming in the market.

Three different approaches to weight reduction will be introduced here, Steel Products by Sumitomo Metal Industries, CFRP by Toray Industries and Multimaterial Concepts by AUDI. It was announced today, Dec. 27.

Related Posts:

1. Which Car and Which Truck Next Year?
2. Leviton to Charge Toyota Electric Vehicles
3. Audi Cries Release the Hounds in Super Bowl Ad
4. Nissan Electric Vehicle Battery Plant in Tennessee
5. World Car of the Year Award for Nissan LEAF

Source: http://www.ramanmedianetwork.com/top-automakers-converging-at-automotive-world/

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Two 5.8 earthquakes hit New Zealand city

Stringer/New Zealand / Reuters

Dust rises from rocks falling from a cliff in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner moments after the earthquake struck.

By msnbc.com staff, NBC News and news services

Updated 12:28 a.m. ET

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- ???A series of strong earthquakes struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday, rattling buildings, sending goods tumbling from shelves and prompting terrified holiday shoppers to flee into the streets. There was no tsunami alert issued and the city appeared to have been spared major damage.

Initial reports said one person was injured at a city mall and was taken to a hospital, and four people had to be rescued after being trapped by a rock fall. But there were no immediate reports of serious injuries or widespread damage in the city, which is still recovering from a devastating February earthquake that killed 182 people and destroyed much of the downtown area.

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The first 5.8-magnitude quake struck Friday afternoon, 16 miles (26 kilometers) north of Christchurch and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Minutes later, a 5.3-magnitude aftershock hit. About an hour after that, the city was shaken by another 5.8-magnitude temblor, the U.S.G.S. said, though New Zealand's geological agency GNS Science recorded that aftershock as a magnitude-6.0. Both aftershocks were less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) deep.

Get the latest quake updates at breakingnews.com

Power was reported out in some neighborhoods, and the Herald said that liquefaction of the ground had occurred in?some of the city's eastern?suburbs. Sewer lines broke, goods fell from shelves in stores, and large cracks opened in some buildings, the Herald reported.

More coverage of the quake from the New Zealand Herald

About 60 people were treated for minor injuries, including fractures, injuries sustained in falls and people with "emotional difficulties," Christchurch St. John Ambulance operations manager Tony Dowell told The Associated Press.

"We have had no significant injuries reported as a result of the earthquakes today," he said.

Christchurch International Airport was evacuated. A Qantas flight from Sydney was diverted to Wellington, the Herald said. Airport authorities said they?hoped to reopen the?airport after checking?buildings and other facilities for damage. In a tweet at 9:18 p.m.?EST, airport officials said that?"we hope this wil happen in a few hours."

Newstalk ZB reported that debris had fallen from the?Catholic cathedral on Barbados Street.

Radio New Zealand News?reported that Warwick Isaacs of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority said buildings in the city's center were evacuated as a precaution.

"It ... started slow then really got going. It was a big swaying one but not as jolting or as violent as in February," Christchurch resident Rita Langley said.

"It was incredibly violent," one caller told Radio New Zealand.

"All the water in my birdbath slopped out and I could hear everything falling over inside. When I walked inside, the cat streaked out the door, ornaments were all over the floor, contents of the pantry were lying on the floor, a little bit of smashed glass and picture frames lying over."

The shaking was severe in the nearby port town of Lyttelton, the epicenter of the Feb. 22 quake.

"We stayed inside until the shaking stopped. Then most people went out into the street outside," resident Andrew Turner said. "People are emotionally shocked by what happened this afternoon."

The area has recorded more than 7,000 earthquakes since a magnitude-7 quake rocked the city on Sept. 4, 2010. That quake did not cause any deaths.? But the?earthquake that hit Christchurch?on Feb. 22 killed 181 and?caused damage intially estimated at up to $12 billion.?It was the second deadliest quake ever recorded?in New Zealand; one in 1931 in Hawke's Bay?killed 256 people.

The USGS told NBC News that the quakes on Friday could be classified as aftershocks of the February killer.

Christchurch is on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island.

This article includes reporting from?msnbc.com staff, NBC News, Reuters?and The Associated Press.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/22/9643169-two-58-earthquakes-hit-new-zealand-city-still-recovering-from-killer-quake

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ORNL image analysis prowess advances retina research

Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ron Walli
wallira@ornl.gov
865-576-0226
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Dec. 21, 2011 Armed with a new ability to find retinal anomalies at the cellular level, neurobiologists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have made a discovery they hope will ultimately lead to a treatment for cancer of the retina.

While much work remains, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's specialized tracing algorithm allows researchers to analyze thousands of cells instead of just a few dozen. This tool has helped reveal a previously undiscovered role of Rb, the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene in the developing retina. The findings are detailed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/12/08/1108141108.abstract.

"Our paper shows that horizontal neurons known to be deficient in this gene exhibited abnormalities in the way their dendrites the arms that connect to other cells were organized after a certain number of days after birth," said the Department of Energy lab's Ryan Kerekes, one of the authors. The images of mouse retinas were acquired using confocal microscopy while The Jackson Laboratory provided the mice.

To make their discovery, Kerekes, ORNL colleague Shaun Gleason and postdoc Mahmut Karakaya developed a computer program and automated tool that traces the very complex and intricate dendritic arbor. This tool allows scientists to draw a line along each branch in the neuron's tree of connectors so the branch can be measured in terms of length, angle and other parameters.

"Previously, this was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive process," Kerekes said. "Existing commercial software tools were not tuned to this particular data and, as a result, produced too many tracing errors."

As a result, only a handful of cells could be analyzed in sufficient detail, according to Kerekes, who noted that the ORNL tracing algorithms achieves the level of accuracy required to analyze thousands of developing neurons.

Retinoblastoma is caused by a mutation in a gene controlling cell division, causing cells to grow out of control and become cancerous. It is most commonly found in children 2 and younger.

While this paper focused on cancer of the retina, Gleason noted that this research focuses on a number of retinal developmental issues.

###

The lead author of the paper, titled "Retinoblastoma (Rb) regulates laminar dendritic arbor reorganization in retinal horizontal neurons," is Michael Dyer of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at Memphis and Howard Hughes Medical Center, Chevy Chase, Md. Other authors are from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Memphis, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Centro de Ciencias da Saude, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This research was funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award/National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. The image analysis work also received seed money from ORNL and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ron Walli
wallira@ornl.gov
865-576-0226
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Dec. 21, 2011 Armed with a new ability to find retinal anomalies at the cellular level, neurobiologists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have made a discovery they hope will ultimately lead to a treatment for cancer of the retina.

While much work remains, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's specialized tracing algorithm allows researchers to analyze thousands of cells instead of just a few dozen. This tool has helped reveal a previously undiscovered role of Rb, the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene in the developing retina. The findings are detailed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/12/08/1108141108.abstract.

"Our paper shows that horizontal neurons known to be deficient in this gene exhibited abnormalities in the way their dendrites the arms that connect to other cells were organized after a certain number of days after birth," said the Department of Energy lab's Ryan Kerekes, one of the authors. The images of mouse retinas were acquired using confocal microscopy while The Jackson Laboratory provided the mice.

To make their discovery, Kerekes, ORNL colleague Shaun Gleason and postdoc Mahmut Karakaya developed a computer program and automated tool that traces the very complex and intricate dendritic arbor. This tool allows scientists to draw a line along each branch in the neuron's tree of connectors so the branch can be measured in terms of length, angle and other parameters.

"Previously, this was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive process," Kerekes said. "Existing commercial software tools were not tuned to this particular data and, as a result, produced too many tracing errors."

As a result, only a handful of cells could be analyzed in sufficient detail, according to Kerekes, who noted that the ORNL tracing algorithms achieves the level of accuracy required to analyze thousands of developing neurons.

Retinoblastoma is caused by a mutation in a gene controlling cell division, causing cells to grow out of control and become cancerous. It is most commonly found in children 2 and younger.

While this paper focused on cancer of the retina, Gleason noted that this research focuses on a number of retinal developmental issues.

###

The lead author of the paper, titled "Retinoblastoma (Rb) regulates laminar dendritic arbor reorganization in retinal horizontal neurons," is Michael Dyer of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at Memphis and Howard Hughes Medical Center, Chevy Chase, Md. Other authors are from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Memphis, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Centro de Ciencias da Saude, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This research was funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award/National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. The image analysis work also received seed money from ORNL and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/drnl-oia122111.php

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