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pigeons

Robert J. Marks: Pigeons can solve the Monty Hall problem. But can you?

The dilemma pits human folk intuition against actual probability theory, with surprising results. But the howler is that pigeons tended to get this right more easily than humans - at least in one study. (Another study found that it depended on the humans’ age.) Read More ›

Convergent evolution: Distantly related birds, same crests

From ScienceDaily: A few years ago biologists found that a prominent change in pigeon plumage, head crests, could be traced to a mutation in a single gene. Now the research team has found an almost exact repeat in the evolutionary playbook in distantly related doves. Evolutionary playbook? Doesn’t that imply a strategy? Oh wait, that’s heresy. Watch your language around Top People! Evolutionary biologist Michael Shapiro and his team from the University of Utah made international headlines in 2013 when they found that a prominent change in pigeon plumage, head crests, could be traced to a mutation in a single gene. Now, in the new advanced online edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution, the research team has found an almost Read More ›