Archive for the ‘Just interesting’ Category

But think of the children!

Read this. Really. Go on. Read it now.

Monkey economics and the Blank Slate

Cut through some of the fluff that surrounds this 20 minute talk, and the core is completely fascinating.

Laurie Santos has been experimenting with “monkeynomics”. She has taught a group of monkeys to use money – metal discs – to pay for treats then after straightforward “purchases” of treats, one grape for one disc, become routine [...]

Bonobo intelligence

From TED. Our ancestors must have been very like these creatures. I hadn’t realised how well they can understand full spoken sentences. They have also learned to write in a symbolic script. There is surely a moral duty for us to leave their habitat alone and allow them to develop unhindered. And medical experimentation on [...]

Sexy ideas

Matt Ridley’s recent talk at TED: When ideas have sex