Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101104/03571611721/dailydirt-caring-our-pets.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101104/03571611721/dailydirt-caring-our-pets.shtml

An organization in New Zealand is teaching dogs how to drive cars. Imagine the traffic problems if someone shouts, "Squirrel!" [url]

Cats and dogs are training their owners to respond to their wishes, just like human babies do. Can you resist a cat's solicitation purr? [url]

The technology for turning departed loved ones (humans) into diamonds has been around for several years, but pet diamondification is where the synthetic diamond memorialization market is heading. A diamond really isn't forever, but nobody wants to hear about the actual thermodynamic stability of diamonds. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101104/03571611721 Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100924/10290211154/dailydirt-mans-best-friends.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100924/10290211154/dailydirt-mans-best-friends.shtml Bowlingual for translating dog barks into human languages, and here are just a few more interesting links on human-dog relationships.

• Researchers are using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to try to understand what dogs are thinking. Two dogs have been trained to stand completely still while their brains are scanned, and one of the dogs is a squirrel-hunting dog -- so maybe these neuroscientists will be able to see what part of a dog's brain activates when someone says, "Squirrel!" [url]
• Doggelganger is a fun way to match up people and dogs that are up for adoption. Dogs and their owners are supposed to grow to look like each other, but what if facial recognition software made it possible for you to adopt a dog that already looked like you from the start? [url]
• Does neutering pets cause any kind of depression for our beloved domesticated animals? Vets may want to change the way they make pets sterile if enough pet owners are convinced that there's even a possibility of post-neutering depression. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100924/10290211154 Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100924/10295511156/dailydirt-learning-about-our-pets.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100924/10295511156/dailydirt-learning-about-our-pets.shtml Bowlingual and Meowlingual to help us understand cats and dogs, but automated translations are notoriously imperfect. So here are just a few interesting links on studying domesticated animals.

• A study from the University of Georgia tracked the behavior of 60 outdoor cats with video cameras. Over 2,000 hours of video show how cats eat lasagna and make snide remarks about their owners hunt for neighborhood rodents and birds. [url]
• An expert on canine genetics discusses how the dog genome has affected research since its first publication 6 years ago. Researchers can compare different dog breeds on a genetic level and show that man's best friends are all descendants of grey wolves. [url]
• Domestication is usually a human-lead process of taming wild animals, but some animals seem to be getting kinder and gentler all on their own. Aggression is somewhat costly behavior in nature, and under certain conditions, more peaceful species can evolve. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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