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Big-Data Animal Tracking As an Eye On Life and Planet

New submitter Thoe writes: As published in Science Magazine and covered by The Washington Post, the continued evolution of animal tracking through various technologies combined with Big Data analytical techniques is driving a push into the "Golden Age" of remote tracking of animals and the environment.

From the abstract: "The unique perspective offered by big-data animal tracking enables a new view of animals as naturally evolved sensors of environment, which we think has the potential to help us monitor the planet in completely new ways. A massive multi-individual monitoring program would allow a quorum sensing of our planet, using a variety of species to tap into the diversity of senses that have evolved across animal groups, providing new insight on our world through the sixth sense of the global animal collective." (Full disclosure, yes, my brother is one of the publishers.)

28 comments

  1. Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Brought to you by Dice.com where our motto is "If it's not broken, we just haven't gotten around to breaking it yet."

    1. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      +1

    2. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by TWX · · Score: -1

      Yeah, was it so bad having a link to the discussion, oh, I donno, below the goddamn summary that one just finished reading?

      If SoylentNews would get their goddamn color schemes where they looked good and weren't hard on the eyes like the burgundy I'd probably read there more often.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by kharchenko · · Score: -1

      Leave the link for the discussion where it belongs - after the summary! No one gives a damn about the "share" button!

    4. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by Livius · · Score: -1

      Seriously, it's like it's the 90s and the web site is maintained by one of those people who think they are gifted at designing user interfaces and are wrong about that and many other of their 'talents'.

      Competent web site designers at least make these things user preferences.

    5. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      money changes everything - but not for the best.

    6. Re:Fuck Dice and fuck timothy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this!

  2. Too human.. by redwraith94 · · Score: 1

    We really need to extend the program to homo-sapiens, don't you think? That would give us a lot more insight into environmental factors.

    --
    I art more snarky, and terse than thou. I art Slashdot!
    1. Re:Too human.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking the exact same thing. How can anyone publish the words "animal collective" with a straight face these days? I guess it must seem funny to the people with security clearance well above mine.

    2. Re:Too human.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking the exact same thing. How can anyone publish the words "animal collective" with a straight face these days? I guess it must seem funny to the people with security clearance well above mine.

      It really does seem funny, citizen. It really does.

    3. Re:Too human.. by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      But we also need to track the animals. This lets us determine how effective our animal-based advertising is in order to more fully monetize their internet usage.

    4. Re:Too human.. by Livius · · Score: 1

      We really need to extend the program to homo sapiens

      Maybe they already did.

  3. As if Beta wasn't bad enough... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    ... now I've got to wade through this shitty layout as well? Polls in the main feed, "Video Bytes", comment counts and images placed on top of the headline. Is Dice trolling everyone? Even OMGPonies was more user friendly.

    1. Re:As if Beta wasn't bad enough... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: -1

      This likely is just the start of the new beta. They just won't make it a separate site anymore. They'll just push untested, broken code into production.

    2. Re:As if Beta wasn't bad enough... by schlachter · · Score: -1

      someone...or perhaps a string of people...got hired to redesign this site...and god damn it they're going to redesign it! Never mind if it's needed or not.

      --
      My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
  4. WTF?? by schlachter · · Score: -1

    Site goes down and it comes back up all fucked up. Slow. Buggy. Poor UI. Errrrrrrrrr

    --
    My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
    1. Re:WTF?? by Darinbob · · Score: -1

      What's actually happening? The only difference I see is a number up by the title. Do I have to turn off adblock and noscript before I see the changes?

  5. Animal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is this Big Data Animal anyway? Where does it live? How does it reproduce?

    1. Re:Animal? by ShaunC · · Score: 1

      Big data is like sex in high school. Nobody really knows exactly what it is or how to do it, but everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone says they're doing it, too.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  6. What happened to the front page? by ShaunC · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I see a "Share" menu has replaced what used to be the link to read each story's comments. I clicked "Share" by accident, intending to click through and load the discussion. You fooled me and my muscle memory one time. In exchange, you've pissed me off and guaranteed that I won't ever use that feature. What's the point?

    I think it's funny, there's a story just down the front page titled "Are There Any Search Engines Left That Don't Try To Think For Me?" I might ask the same about Slashdot, lately!

    --
    Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    1. Re:What happened to the front page? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 0

      Just use Adblock Plus to block that shit.

  7. mod 3Own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Disgust, Nor been

  8. What about /. ? by TheCreeep · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Could it also track the dumb changes to slashdot like this new share button?

  9. Man... by EmeraldBot · · Score: 2

    This entire summary reads like a slew of buzzwords. "Big data animal tracking"? "Massive multi-individual"? "Quorem sensing"? "Global animal collective"!?

    .......

    Yeah. Or, in other words, implanting GPS chips on the skin so that you can attempt to creepily stalk every living organism's location on this planet. Same thing as we've been doing for the last thirty years, but now with "big data" attached.

    Can an animal even give consent to have a tag attached to it? What happens when this tag falls off? Does it leak toxic chemicals from its battery into the environment? What happens if the animal eats it? For animals that don't swim underwater, are they designed to be waterproof?

    --
    "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    1. Re:Man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will they also put these wonderful chips on animals like rhinos and tigers that are being hunted for traditional Chinese "medicin"?.
      That might be counterproductive.

    2. Re:Man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can an animal even give consent to have a tag attached to it?
      Depends on how good it tastes.

  10. So long as it does graphs by WillAdams · · Score: 1

    Here, like this one:

    http://xkcd.com/1338/

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.