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Dolphins Can Sleep One-half of Their Brain At a Time Say Researchers
An anonymous reader writes "Looks like the evolution in multi-core computing is something nature has already figured out. Dolphins will sleep one core while the other remains vigilant, running background tasks necessary for survival. From the article: 'The scientists wrote: "From an anthropomorphic viewpoint, the ability of the dolphin to continuously monitor its environment for days without interruption seems extreme. However, the biological, sensory and cognitive ecology of these animals is relatively unique and demanding. If dolphins sleep like terrestrial animals, they might drown. If dolphins fail to maintain vigilance, they become susceptible to predation. As a result, the apparent 'extreme' capabilities these animals possess are likely to be quite normal, unspectacular, and necessary for survival from the dolphin's perspective."'"
This is known long ago... this is also an adaptation because dolphins breathing is not a reflex, so half the brain has to be always awake to remember breathing.
The news is that they can stay awake for 15 days at a time. Scientists have known for 30 years that dolphins can sleep with one hemisphere.
Republicans have been doing that for years.
*rimshot*
A GM trait I'd be interested in acquiring.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Hasn't this already been well known or quite some time?
The real question is: Why is sleep needed in mammals in the first place? We've already found drugs that can keep a person going without sleep for weeks or months at a time, apparently without any significant reduction in cognitive ability or any significant change in neurological functioning. It's been investigated my the military for quite some time now.
Evolution says the reason for sleep is that it improves a creature's ability to adapt... but what does sleep adapt us for? Why the downtime? Even here with mammals where never going to sleep is a survival necessity... nature kept it intact and instead segmented the brain so parts of it could sleep. Something about sleep is very, very important... but be damned if we can figure out what.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
We are indeed inferior to dolphins, brain-wise. Makes you wonder what the mice can pull off!
Ezekiel 23:20
As a former dolphin researcher at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory of the University of Hawaii I can say that we've known about split brain sleeping for at least three decades. I had always wanted to run an experiment looking for an acoustic equivalent to Rapid Eye Movement in dolphins. It could still be called REM sleep just substituting Eye with Echolocation. Since you really don't want to attach EKG leads to a swimming dolphin we'd have needed a set of directional hydrophones arrayed around the tank who's data would be correlated with the dolphin's head position as it swam. Perhaps this could be tackled now but back in the day it was beyond us.
They sure hide it well!
Does that mean that a body doesn't need sleep - only the brain? Or have their bodies adapted in some special way that ours hasn't?
This is also how Steve Ballmer gives keynotes
http://www.radiolab.org/2007/may/24/one-eye-open/
porpoises mentioned 7:30 but it's all fascinating
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Big deal.
I perfectly of that.
am capable doing too .
Most people don't know that they're half asleep, but they are. All the time. At least the dolphins seem to turn both cores on every now and then.
Perhaps we could have the dolphins vote on our behalf next month. And if they elect a dolphin, it might not be such a bad thing, so long as their choice is 35 or older and born within U.S. territorial waters. We won't care what color dolphin they choose. Think of all the money we'd save collectively by not donating to campaigns that are just going to scream garbage and lies at us. Think of all the extra things we could do if we didn't have the distraction of being bombarded with that stuff and having to sort it out. Republicans will go for this because a dolphin won't be able to raise taxes. Democrats will go for this because a dolphin won't be able to cut services. The only ones who would lose out would be the networks that depend on expensive campaign ads... Fox news might go out of business. This is starting to sound like a very good idea.
Now when she asks why I don't listen to her, I can just explain that the half of my brain running the audio is shut down to conserve energy.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
This is old "news". (Can we call it "olds"?)
Supposedly when you see a row of birds standing on a cable, all the ones in the middle are asleep, and the two on the end have half a brain awake so that their outside eye is paying attention.
More recent result is that even in humans, 'asleep' isn't a boolean proposition. Different parts of your brain may go to sleep at different times. Sometimes leads to "normal" sleepwalking, sometimes to horrid behavior because the impluse-suppression part is asleep and most of the rest isn't. See the overview article in a recent issue of Scientific American. (Current or previous issue, IIRC.)
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
So there is some truth to the saying "Arguing on the Internet is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard."?
Whats really amazing is that, despite the claims that the right is the party of hate, it always seems to be the left calling us names.
Stay classy slashdot.
That's nothing... There are plenty of people on the NY Thruway who can do this and drive at the same time!
C|N>K
It is not name-calling, it is pointing out facts. Huge difference there.
I'm pretty sure there's a joke in there somewhere.
Only a half brain operating? I know people who...
...drive like that.
...talk like that.
...code like that.
...make decisions at Microsoft like that.
...decide to buy Apple products like that.
and so on...
Just a matter of time before we have dolphin-centric questions on the SATs. And of course, the schools will be teaching echolocation to the test...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
And this explains how they have so much time to be jerks; although I could be thinking of porpoises.
lose != loose
"Sleep" really doesn't work like that as a verb.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
This is known long ago... this is also an adaptation because dolphins breathing is not a reflex, so half the brain has to be always awake to remember breathing.
In fact, here's a 2009 article in National Geographic on the exact same topic from 2009. It was not the first, either.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I guess that's why the party of hate (Republicans) gives much more to charity than that other party.
Just pointing out the facts. Can you handle the truth?
It's a fact that dolphins are Republicans?
-- Using the preview button since 2005
Dolphins Can Sleep One-half of Their Brain At a Time Say Researchers
Why would an intelligent species like dolphins have invented meetings?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/dolphins-evolve-opposable-thumbs,284/ "'I believe I speak for the entire human race when I say, 'Holy fuck,'' said Oceanographic Institute director Dr. James Aoki"
This is old news. It was discovered long ago. Not only that but they found this about ducks before that. Even some humans do this, more among males perhaps due to greater division of functions due to later maturation and greater corpus callosum separation.
News that matters? Maybe.
News that is timely? Not so.
Giraffes have long necks, and diney-sowers is all dead!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Only because more religious fanatics who tithe 10% or more to their church are Republicans. I don't call that "charity" myself, since the churches almost never do anything charitable with the money. With religious contributions removed the numbers are actually quite close.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Ive seen some nasty things coming from both sides on other sites comments sections , but the majority that I have seen on slashdot has been from the left.