This reminded me of a documentary i saw about crow intelligence years ago on this topic, its worth a watch:

https://youtu.be/LF77qpbvkxo?si=OQusmWADgP9I4VBe

very interesting… ( ffwd to 44:00 or so to see more on their grudges, as shown by the “mask experiment”.)

deleted by creator

Well kind of (it’s addressed in the video)

Orcas have fun in some pretty psychotic ways.

Ah, I see. That’s interesting, never realized this! I guess I just thought mammals had similar reproductive setups (aside from different gestations and number of children etc) But I really have no idea haha.

This is weird, i always assumed all other mammals went through it too. Why wouldnt they?

deleted by creator

deleted by creator

The only mention of what the flavour was, was this:

In research published in Nature Communications, USC Dornsife neuroscientist Emily Liman and her team found that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride through the same protein receptor that signals sour taste.

“If you live in a Scandinavian country, you will be familiar with and may like this taste,” says Liman, professor of biological sciences. In some northern European countries, salt licorice has been a popular candy at least since the early 20th century. The treat counts among its ingredients salmiak salt, or ammonium chloride.

So is this ‘mediciney’ flavour, then? (black licorish, ouzo, root beer, those weird candies they sell at ikea…)

deleted by creator

If inflammation is the source, i am guessing other dietary sources of inflammation would have the same effect? (Refined carbs, excess sugar etc)

This is harmless and goofy, but it goes to show how easily something so stupid can take hold and enter the conversation.

Was going to say it looks like a half dog half fruitbat. (But i dont think they live in brazil… also that is impossible.) But a fruitbatdog would be pretty cute.

Useful traits for terminator seeds?

On one hand if they don’t cross-pollinate with regular crops thats probably a good thing?

On the other hand this sounds like it would produce crops that would make farmers even more restricted. Food security would be further throttled and controlled by agricultural corps.

Or maybe im reading this wrong, does anyone know of any more benign uses for this tech?

The writer of that psychology today article put her son in ABA, and actually endsup advocating for it (as long as the ABA therapist used a modern, child first approach.) I agree with her.

My son has been in modern ABA since he was two after his developmental pediatrician recommended it. (I have aspergers myself, as does my kid’s father - both of us never required ABA as kids though I had speech therapy/saw a psychologist about my “acting out” etc) So I had no reason to be suspicious of ABA, or knew about how it used to be. However my son’s experience been so positive I never considered that it might have (pretty horrible) origins or were started by a person like that.

I’ve seen many sessions at two different practises, and from what I’ve experienced, the modern version is VERY divorced from the old methods you are describing.

The place my son attends (he still goes there twice a week) they teach kids to be proud of being autistic, and to understand themselves as well as advocate for what they want using group-play based activities. Stimming and other typical ASD behaviours are not ever discouraged, though communication is (however they prefer to do it.) It’s not about forcing them to act like normies. It’s about giving them the tools to understand themselves and others. They also have parent classes to help understanding and acceptance of ASD behaviours, and how to advocate for your kid in school and other settings.

My son used to be basically non-verbal, he would headbutt and bite us frequently as a result of his frustrations. So had we tried putting our son in speech therapy, however we took him out of that since the methods were very repetitive and frustrating for him. It was much harsher than what he’s experienced in ABA. ABA had my kid actually asking for what he wanted, didn’t want, enaging in play… also the biting and headbutting us stopped. I’m not sure why seeking out some kind of therapy to help him communicate better is seen as “forcing him to conform”…

After seven years of ABA, my kid is happy as hell. He loves his therapy group and his therapists. He’s still going twice a week, he’s learning about online safety, multiplayer gaming (taking turns and playing as a team) and how to deal with bullies. They have a video game playing league.

It’s important for people who experienced the horrific side of ABA to voice their experiences and advocate for acceptance of neurodiversity in all its forms. I in no way want to dismiss the trauma of someone who had to experience ABA the way it used to be.

But call ALL forms of modern ABA or other behavioural therapies for kids ‘coersive’ or ‘abusive’ - or to compare them to something like conversion therapy? …I don’t know even know how to describe it. But it is very, very very off base and misinformed at the very least.

I’m not going to argue, since it seems like you have a pretty strong opinion about this. (As do I)

But I wanted to put it out there that doctors tend to recommend modern ABA for a reason. Evidence-based methods matter. I recommend it myself, provided you investigate the clinic first to see what their approach is.

Oh I agree! I wish we could move past the profit motive as well, especially when it comes to food and shelter. Criminal that there are no non-profit options in these areas in most western nations.)

I was just arguing there have been campaigns to raise the price of sugary or convenience foods to get people to eat healthy. But these campaigns just end up hurting low income people who can’t afford the healthier options in the first place. I was suggesting an approach that might make healthy food more accessible - (but that’s within a shitty capitalist system.

deleted by creator

The problem with regulating unhealthy food is that it is likely to jack up the price of the only affordable option for a lot of people. Maybe something like subsidizing and lowering cost of healthier foods to make them more affordable instead would be good.

deleted by creator

Id hadnt heard of these guys, but learning about them has been neat. Its nice to see an ecological success story.

Look at them! New zealand has the best assortment of small dinosaurs.