I have heard that Dolphins /(Porpoises?) are the only creatures that have larger brains than humans, this lends weight to the claim.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/watch/7539faa3-4cf6-3dd7-a68d-1d80fc429f3e/divers-help-dolphin-in-distress/

bob(from black rock) said:

I have heard that Dolphins /(Porpoises?) are the only creatures that have larger brains than humans, this lends weight to the claim.

what claim?

neomyrtus_ said:

bob(from black rock) said:

I have heard that Dolphins /(Porpoises?) are the only creatures that have larger brains than humans, this lends weight to the claim.

what claim?

That they have larger brains than Us.

larger as in volume, or as in heavier by mass?

bob(from black rock) said:

neomyrtus_ said:

bob(from black rock) said:

I have heard that Dolphins /(Porpoises?) are the only creatures that have larger brains than humans, this lends weight to the claim.

what claim?

That they have larger brains than Us.

Elephants have larger brains than us, so do whales…

In what way does that video demonstrate cranial volume or mass? I reckon actually weighing a brain from sample of humans and a number of species of dolphin/small whale, or estimating cranial volume would answer the question.

Average human brane mass = 1.3 kg – 1.4 kg

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/facts.html

Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) adult average brane mass = 1.5 – 1.7 kg (wiki)

OMG, now slow down with the allometric scaling there, poik!

neomyrtus_ said:

OMG, now slow down with the allometric scaling there, poik!

ok :)

I love log-log plots! (too much time in hydrogeology, I s’pose)

Now, what Bob really wants us to say is that dolphins have teh smartz more than humans because their brane weighs the same or a little more.

It isn’t mass / volume which ddictates intelligence, it’s more than that – including wiring and differentiation of cerebrum into regions of function.

didja know that some people have been born without a hemisphere? They go through all their lives with half a brane and function perfectly normally and only have this discovered post mortem?

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-12/health/woman.brain_1_brain-language-abilities-rewired?_s=PM:HEALTH

neomyrtus_ said:

didja know that some people have been born without a hemisphere? They go through all their lives with half a brane and function perfectly normally and only have this discovered post mortem?

There are even people that have had a hemisphere removed, and maintain function…

wow, this brain stuff is quite interesting.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-when-half-brain-better-than-whole
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=does-brain-size-matter

Let us also not forget that dolphins are always co-operative in entanglement rescues – often they aren’t. It took weeks to track down and get Gizmo the calf in the Swan River, which had fishing line wrapped around its dorsal fin. The mother lunged at and tried to bite the divers trying to rescue the calf, as well as it trying to pull the calf from the divers’ hands.

http://www.swanrivertrust.wa.gov.au/news/media-releases/2012/10/29/water-police-thanked-for-saving-gizmo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUaq5rJ3bOI

The video shows freaked out mum, who finally ended up swimming in circles around the divers (the audio gives discussion of people on board.. not sure if it was SRT people or just police)

Speaking of dolphins:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-23/an-dolphin-slaughter-in-solomon-islands/4480976

“A remote village in the Solomon Islands has slaughtered at least 700 dolphins, saying it is in retaliation for a breached agreement with a conservation group.

The village of Fanalei in South Malaita, caught and killed the animals in protest over non-payment of funds promised by the Earth Island Institute to forego their traditional hunting practice.”

neomyrtus_ said:

didja know that some people have been born without a hemisphere? They go through all their lives with half a brane and function perfectly normally and only have this discovered post mortem?

Fair dinkum?

neomyrtus_ said:

didja know that some people have been born without a hemisphere? They go through all their lives with half a brane and function perfectly normally and only have this discovered post mortem?

I believe I’ve met several people with only half a brain.

Divine Angel said:

neomyrtus_ said:

didja know that some people have been born without a hemisphere? They go through all their lives with half a brane and function perfectly normally and only have this discovered post mortem?

I believe I’ve met several people with only half a brain.

Same here. In fact I think I met one today with no brain :P

Michael V said:

Speaking of dolphins:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-23/an-dolphin-slaughter-in-solomon-islands/4480976

“A remote village in the Solomon Islands has slaughtered at least 700 dolphins, saying it is in retaliation for a breached agreement with a conservation group.

The village of Fanalei in South Malaita, caught and killed the animals in protest over non-payment of funds promised by the Earth Island Institute to forego their traditional hunting practice.”

Of this, the country bilateral and AusAID RAMSI development programs manage $116.7 million. Regional and global AusAID-managed initiatives receive $18.4 million. In addition to this amount, $104.3m is expensed in Solomon Islands via other government departments including the Australian Federal Police’s support to the RAMSI Participating Police Force.

**Following the Government’s announcement on 17 December 2012 to reprioritise resources within the aid budget, the figure for 2012-13 will be updated in early 2013.

heres an idea

why don’t we give the solomons a sweet fuck you and revoke all aid?

http://www.ausaid.gov.au/countries/pacific/solomon-islands/Pages/default.aspx

THE Australian government will give more than $14 million to the Solomon Islands to help eradicate malaria in the tiny Pacific Islands nation.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr, speaking from a hospital in the Solomon Islands on Saturday, said the federal government would give $14.75 million to fund further anti-malaria measures and community education about the disease.

He said Australian assistance had already prevented 77,000 cases of malaria since 2003, and the government would work towards eliminating malaria in Solomon Islands communities.

maybe cutting that aid will get rid of a lot of problems naturally

Maybe we could bomb Cheif Cnut and his merry band of dolphin killers with a fleet of 1000 drones….

party_pants said:

Maybe we could bomb Cheif Cnut and his merry band of dolphin killers with a fleet of 1000 drones….

no

the easy way is to stop feeding the problem

keep funneling money to known problems only makes it worse

shut down the money train out of the country and things will get better here. for the rest of the world it will only be what they have known anyway. most countries are basket cases by virtue of the brains walking around in those countries.

we also the train the indonesians so they can go and torture people in other countries they have claimed

stop the money – stop the problem