Atara's stories

Combining a love of poetry and quantum mechanics, a British writer is using sheep to create a living form of "random" poetry.

The members of a flock of sheep had words spray painted on their backs. As the sheep move around and come to rest again, they form poems. The quantum physics aspect refers to the uncertainty of how the sheep will arrange themselves.

A New York performance artist is doing a similar project using cows.

Or, if you're a dog person, you've known this all along.

A recent study has shown that dogs are able to do rudimentary math. In an experiement similar to one performed on monkeys, a dog was shown a pile of treats. Then a screen was lowered, obscuring the treats, and the treats were either left along, or a few were taken away. Then the screen was raised.

When a few treats were missing, the dogs stared at the treats for a few seconds longer than they did when the number of treats stayed the same, suggesting that they knew there were fewer treats.

A sexually aggresive dolphin is causing some problems in the resort town of Weymouth, England. Georges, a male bottlenose dolphin, may be moved to French waters, where it is illegal to swim with dolphins. Story from CNN.

No, not that sort of stuffed animal. We're talking real stuffed animals. A New Zealand couple has 300 stuffed animals in their collection. They claim that their collection promotes conservation and a greater appreciation for animals.

Sure. Nothing says "conservation" like a stuffed polar bear in your living room...