Saturday, June 29, 2013

Beached beluga half asleep on couch

Half asleep
"Just two dolphins—a male and female—took part in the study. The pair showed no signs of fatigue for the first five days of the experiment, and the female powered through additional tasks for the entire 15-day period. The researchers cut the study off at that point, so it’s possible that the two dolphins could have continued to perform normally for an indefinite period of time without a full-brain rest."

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/10/dolphins-sleep-with-only-half-their-brain-at-a-time/#ixzz2XdA8fUk3 
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Half awake

"Unlike somes species of birds, the open eyes of these cetaceans are facing the inside of the group, not the outside. The dangers of possible predation do not play a significant role during USWS in Pacific white-sided dolphins. It has been suggested that this species of dolphin utilizes this reversed version of the "group edge effect" in order to maintain pod formation and cohesion while maintaining unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.[8]"....

"In domestic chicks and other species of birds exhibiting USWS, one eye remained open contra-lateral to the "awake" hemisphere. The closed eye was shown to be contra-lateral to the hemisphere engaging in slow-wave sleep. Learning tasks, such as those including predator recognition, demonstrated the open eye could be preferential.[6] This has also been shown to be the favored behavior of belugas, although inconsistencies have arisen directly relating the sleeping hemisphere and open eye.[7] Keeping one eye open aids birds in engaging in USWS while mid-flight as well helping them observe predators in their vicinity.[8]"

Been doing some tasks with my right eye closed while trying to engage and  pay attention to my left tongue/face throat. It feels like my discrepancy between my left tongue/face/throat and right tongue/face/throat is determined by my interaction with my environment more than some innate predisposition. 

Cooperation
“The more social the animal -- where cooperation is highly valued -- the more the general population will trend toward one side,” said Abrams, an assistant professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. “The most important factor for an efficient society is a high degree of cooperation. In humans, this has resulted in a right-handed majority.” 


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