When we hear a story, do we naturally imagine the visual scene being described? Do the representations derived in the course of normal language comprehension interact with visual perception broadly? For example, might understanding language change how we interpret visual scenes, even when the visual scenes are unrelated to the linguistic content? In our study, people interpreted an ambiguous im...

Hypothesis: The ecological theory of adaptive radiation predicts divergent morphological adaptations to different environments, and different evolutionary trait utilities in varying environments. Organism: Darwin’s Small Ground Finch (Geospiza fuliginosa). Times and places: Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Archipelago, in two study areas of different habitat type: highland forest (c. 500 m elevatio...

Pattern formation is the developmental process that leads to the spatial ordering of cell differentiation. We have explored the problem of pattern formation in the development of the face of chick embryos. At early stages, the developing face consists of a series of small buds of tissue, the facial primordia that encircle the primitive mouth. The concepts of positional information provide a fra...

Detailed anatomical knowledge of the variability in the drainage pathway in relation to the frontal sinus is a prerequisite for successful sinus surgery. We studied 32 mid-sagittal cadaveric heads and recorded the following parameters: drainage site of the sinus in relation to the uncinate process, attachment of the uncinate process, pneumatization of the agger nasi, and morphometric measuremen...

Implanting inert carriers soaked in retinoic acid into the anterior margin of the developing limb of chicken embryos leads to orofacial malformations as well as affecting pattern formation in the limb. Using anion-exchange beads as carriers, and soaking solutions of 1-10 mg/ml retinoic acid, almost 100% of the embryos have malformations of the face. The effects on the treated limbs range from s...

The black-bellied African seedcracker, Pyrenestes ostrinus, exhibits a non-sex-related polymorphism in beak size that enables the small-, large-, and mega-billed morphs to utilize different trophic niches. The bill polymorphism between small- and large-billed individuals was previously shown to be under genetic control of a single autosomal locus with the allele for a large bill being dominant....

Two trials, using a total of 3,200 male broilers, were conducted to compare the effects of a trough drinker versus three different heights on a nipple drinker system on body weight gain and feed:gain. The broilers were housed in temperature-controlled litter pens at 25 or 30 C. An 8-ft open trough was used. The nipple drinker heights were adjusted as 1) low (no neck stretch and drink from the s...

This paper reviews the directional orientation of birds with the help of the geomagnetic field under various light conditions. Two fundamentally different types of response can be distinguished. (i) Compass orientation controlled by the inclination compass that allows birds to locate courses of different origin. This is restricted to a narrow functional window around the total intensity of the ...

The cells that are responsible for detecting magnetic fields in animals remain undiscovered. Previous studies have proposed that pigeons employ a magnetic sense system that consists of six bilateral patches of magnetite containing dendrites located in the rostral subepidermis of the upper beak. We have challenged this hypothesis arguing that clusters of iron-rich cells in this region are macrop...