Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Degu Rodents Now Use Tools Like Little Fuzzy
Researchers in Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research have taught degus how to use rakes to obtain food. Degus are small rodents closely related to chinchillas. This is apparently the first instance in which rodents have been taught to use tools.
(Degus learn to use rakes video)
The degu is placed on one side of a fence and sunflower seeds are placed on the other side. When provided with a small rake, the small rodents pull the seeds through. Degus are also referred to as the Brush-Tailed rat, even though they are closer to guinea pigs and chincillas. They are social animals who are able to coordinate their digging activities in constructing large burrows.
Science fiction fans are irresistibly reminded of the wonderful 1962 novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. Although written as a juvenile, this novel has a grown-up preoccupation with the basic question "What makes us human?"
In the story, a distant planet is colonized under a charter to a large corporation. However, one of the conditions of the charter is that the planet does not have any sapient, human-like intelligent life.
The corporate lawyers are not very happy when a sol stone miner named Jack Holloway finds an odd little creature in his house, and then sees him using tools.
(Little Fuzzy cover art)
Update 27-Mar-2008 Here's a good example of their tool-using abilities.
A land-prawn, which must have gotten in while the door was open, was crossing the living room. Little Fuzzy ran after and past it, pivoted and brought the corner of the chisel edge down on the prawn's neck, neatly beheading it... then slid the chisel under it and flopped it over on its back, slapping it twice with the flat and cracking the undershell.
In their extraordinary 1974 novel The Mote in God's Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle write about a race of beings trapped in an isolated solar system. One subspecies, the Watchmakers (nicknamed the Brownies), are small, rodent-like animals with remarkable tool-using abilities. Without realizing the danger, human visitors to the Mote allow Brownies into their ship. Eventually, the brass are concerned.
"Gunner, have you ever heard of 'Brownies' aboard this ship?""Well, not officially, Captain. I will say some of the spacers lately seem lately to believe in the Little People..."
"Some of the men in my watch sections, Captain - they say that if ye leave some food - grain, cereals, mess left-overs, anything at all - in the corridors or under your bunk along with something that needs fixing, it gets fixed."
...Microscopes with smoother focusing operations than the best things ever made by Leica Optical. A handmade lamp in the biology section. Boots and shoes customized to individual feet... sidearms individualized...
End update.
Via Scientists teach rodents to use rake.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/27/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Biology ")
Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light
'The mirror-blossom was a terrible weapon.' - Larry Niven, 1965.
Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore
'The tree ended its wild larruping, stood like a dreaming giant liable to wake into frenzy at any moment.' - Eric Frank Russell, 1943.
Tsunami Forecasts Improved By Ionosphere Signals
'Swifter than any tide could ebb, the water was receding from the shore.'
EctoLife Concept Video Artificial Womb For Baby Mass Production
'A great many of these synthetic babies were made
and allowed to grow up under ideal conditions...' - Dr. David H. Keller, 1928.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
'Whisper Mode' ala Blue Thunder Researched At Bristol
'Forest Lawn.'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Phto
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Bespoke Environment Music From AIs
'Call 'em Winter Mute," said the other, making it two words.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI'
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
