Science
Deputy News Editor at Science, and the author of Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs
PROFILE
David Grimm
Guest
FROM David Grimm
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
From Wildcats to Housecats It’s easy to forget that the purring little feline curled up on your lap is descended from fierce, wild beasts. We know that cats and humans started to cohabitate about 10,000 years ago, but scientists still don’t know exactly how that happened. A recent study of the cat genome, however, may shed some light on what drove this transformation.
To the Point
Canine Communication and the Hidden Language of Dogs at Play In the mid-1800's, Charles Darwin postulated that dogs could think and even communicate with each other, guided by certain rules of morality. Other scientists scoffed at the idea until a recent, serious study of dogs at play. It turns out that dogs recognize honesty and deceit, show compassion, and ostracize other dogs that don't play by the rules. In some ways, they outsmart our closest relatives — chimpanzees. That's according to a new field of animal research, discussed in Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. The author is David Grimm, deputy news editor at Science magazine.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
'Citizen Canine' When Ron Callan Jr. died in 2007 he left an estate of over 2 million dollars. But it wasn’t the money, or the boat, or the rare wine collection that his surviving family members fought over, it was 13-year-old Alex. Callan's mother, ex-girlfriend, fiance, and father all took to the courts to fight for the right to care for Alex. And the custody battle was so heated that the judge appointed a lawyer to look out for Alex’s best interests. Par for the course? Yes, if Alex was a child… not a golden retriever.
To the Point
Can Cats Be Trained? Here's one of the world's great mysteries: why do cats scratch on the back door to get you to open it, and then when you do, they just stand in the doorway and do nothing? What are they thinking? What is going on there? Scientists say, we might never know, because cats are the most uncooperative research subjects ever. David Grimm, Deputy News Editor at Science, is the author of the new book Citizen Canine : Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs.
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Press Play with Madeleine Brand
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UnFictional
The Other Man Stories of two men who meet by chance and emerge indelibly changed – or at least, one of them does.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Previewing James Comey's blockbuster testimony Former FBI director James Comey testifies Thursday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but his opening statement has been released. In it, he says he felt pressured by Donald Trump to declare loyalty to him and publicly clear him of any wrongdoing in the Russia investigation.