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by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jul 14th, 2009 at 09:52:42 AM EST
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Cats 'exploit' humans by purring

Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's.

The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore.

Dr Karen McComb, the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology, said the research was inspired by her own cat, Pepo.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jul 14th, 2009 at 09:54:54 AM EST
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Fran:
Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food

Oh noes! Who knew?

Researchers finally let the cat out of the bag!

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Jul 14th, 2009 at 03:50:31 PM EST
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The purr incorporates the cry?  My cat does aggressive purring, along with a weird faux asthma attack thing, which is either 1) pretending to be dying from starvation or 2) some kind of threat that she'll make herself stop breathing if she doesn't get food, both with the understanding that I couldn't live with the knowledge that I killed her.  And then she does the whiny "baby" cry, these days at the hour of 3am.  But cry-purring?  Not sure she's figured out how to take obnoxiousness to that level yet.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jul 14th, 2009 at 04:05:34 PM EST
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Have they established that wild cats don't have this kind of purr?

The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 15th, 2009 at 04:08:31 AM EST
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Wild cats - not a popular pet choice among Sussex biologists, perhaps.

Wild cats are famous for being impossible to tame, so it's unlikely researchers would be able to get close enough to find out without protective clothing or medical attention.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Jul 15th, 2009 at 09:43:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Reflective roof paint repels the heat

Inventor Ronald R. Savin, 82, uses a regular kitchen blender to make paint samples as he fine-tunes his formula. The engineer and retired Air Force colonel spent much of his military career creating coatings for spacecraft and airplanes.
Hyperseal paints can reduce the costs and energy needed for cooling by lowering the amount of heat a building absorbs from the sun. White roofs may be the new green.

On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels.

The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air conditioning costs and carbon emissions.

This is no ordinary coat of paint. Designed by an 82-year-old former military scientist from the Inland Empire, the tinted topcoat is filled with tiny hollow glass balls that deflect heat, layered over a waterproof undercoat made of recycled rubber.

The Hilton spent more than $150,000 on the project, which was completed in March. That's $300,000 less than the cost of a conventional repair to the old, leaky roof, said Jerome Annaloro, director of property operations at the hotel. If the reflective material cuts utility costs this summer the way management anticipates it will, Annaloro said, he will recommend white roofs for the entire Hilton chain.



As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Jul 15th, 2009 at 12:42:14 AM EST
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New flu resembles feared 1918 virus: study | U.S. | Reuters

... "When we conducted the experiments in ferrets and monkeys, the seasonal virus did not replicate in the lungs," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, who led the study.

The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs."

The new swine flu virus has caused the first pandemic of the 21st century, infecting more than a million people, according to estimates, and killing at least 500. The World Health Organization says it is causing mostly moderate disease but Kawaoka said that does not mean it is like seasonal flu.

"There is a misunderstanding about this virus," he said in a statement. "There is clear evidence the virus is different than seasonal influenza." <...>

People born before 1920 had a strong antibody response to the new H1N1 virus, meaning their body "remembered" it from infection early in life. This finding supports a study published in Nature in August that also found people who survived the 1918 pandemic still had immune protection against that virus. ...



Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
by marco (cowannar at gmail punkt com) on Wed Jul 15th, 2009 at 07:11:07 AM EST
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