Betsy Mason
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Freelance science journalist, geologist, map freak. 2022 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow. Currently reading, writing, talking, and thinking about animals.
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Articles by Betsy Mason
Cúpula Dourada: Trump revive o sonho de um escudo espacial contra mísseis
Em 1940, o jovem Ronald Reagan protagonizou o papel do agente do Serviço Secreto dos EUA, Brass Bancroft, em “Assassinato no Ar” (no original, Murder in the Air), um filme de ação centrado numa “superarma” fictícia capaz de deter aviões inimigos em pleno voo. Um jornal fictício no filme saúda-a como o «maior argumento a favor da paz alguma vez inventado». A arma experimental é «propriedade exclusiva do Tio Sam», declara a personagem de Reagan.
Et si les tours de magie nous aidaient à comprendre les animaux ?
Magicien sur un bateau de croisière : tel est l’étonnant boulot d’été qu’a exercé Elias Garcia-Pelegrin pour financer ses études. « J’étais ce type qui passait de table en table à l’heure du dîner pour faire des tours de magie », se souvient-il. L’étudiant a ensuite changé de public et s’est surtout produit pour… des oiseaux. Plus précisément, pour des geais des chênes (Garrulus glandarius) étudiés au laboratoire de cognition comparée de l’université de Cambridge où il effectuait son doctorat.
ハエトリグモは誰に恋をする？ DIY実験装置で迫る動物の心理
ダートマス大学のマーク・ライドレ助教授（生物学）は、ヤドカリの「住宅市場」を理解しようと試みる中で、独創的な方法を編み出さなければならなかった。ヤドカリは常に、より大きく、より良い貝殻に引っ越そうとしているが、本当に良い住処を得ることにはリスクも伴う。時にはヤドカリたちは徒党を組んで、とても魅力的な貝殻の住人を引きずり出そうとする。もし成功すれば、その貝殻はすぐに一番大きなヤドカリのものとなり、その空いた貝殻は少し小さめのヤドカリのものとなり、そして、全員が引っ越すまで、その連鎖が続く。 貝殻のサイズと防衛力のトレードオフをより正確に評価するために、ライドレ助教授はエンジニアと協力して「ヤドカリ立ち退き装置」を開発した。この装置は、占有されている貝殻を固定し、科学者がヤドカリを引き抜くのにどれだけの力が必要かを測定する（ヤドカリを傷つけたり、貝殻を失わせたりすることはない）。これは実質的には、野外の太陽、砂、湿気に耐えられる携帯型の荷重測定装置である。...
¿Qué le parece sexy a las arañas? Estos artilugios 'caseros' ayudan a los científicos a entender la mente animal
Para entender el mercado inmobiliario del cangrejo ermitaño, el biólogo Mark Laidre, del Dartmouth College, tuvo que ser creativo. Los cangrejos siempre quieren mudarse a un caparazón más grande y mejor, pero tener un buen alojamiento también conlleva riesgos. A veces, los cangrejos se alían para sacar a un habitante de un caparazón especialmente apetecible.
What do jumping spiders find sexy? How DIY tech is offering insights into the animal mind.
In his quest to understand the hermit crab housing market, biologist Mark Laidre of Dartmouth College had to get creative. Crabs are always looking to move into a bigger, better shell, but having really nice digs also comes with risks. Sometimes crabs gang up to pull an inhabitant out of an especially desirable shell.
How Magic Tricks Help Us Understand Animal Minds
To help pay for his undergraduate education, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin had an unusual summer job: cruise ship magician. “I was that guy who comes out at dinnertime and does random magic for you,” he says. But his latest magic gig is even more unusual: performing for Eurasian jays at Cambridge University’s Comparative Cognition Lab. Birds can be harder to fool than tourists.
Abracadabra! How Magic Can Help Us Understand Animal Minds
This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine. To help pay for his undergraduate education, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin had an unusual summer job: cruise ship magician. “I was that guy who comes out at dinnertime and does random magic for you,” he says. But his latest magic gig is even more unusual: performing for Eurasian jays at Cambridge University’s Comparative Cognition Lab. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Birds can be harder to fool than tourists.
Dancing spiders inspired this biologist to teach others
academic: Relating to school, classes or things taught by teachers in formal institutes of learning (such as a college). ADHD: Short for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This condition is characterized by an ongoing pattern of being impulsive (acting without thinking, for instance), inattentive (have trouble staying on task) or hyperactive (fidgeting excessively or seeming overly restless and talkative).
This urban gardener is mimicking nature to create healthier plants
agriculture: The growth of plants, animals or fungi for human needs, including food, fuel, chemicals and medicine. atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth, another planet or a moon. basalt: A type of black volcanic rock that tends to be very dense (unless volcanic eruptions seeded it with lots of air pockets). birds: Warm-blooded animals with wings that first showed up during the time of the dinosaurs.
Spiders that fall into water use reflected light to find land
arachnid: A group of invertebrate animals that includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. Many have silk or venom glands. biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things. chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O.
Spiders are much smarter than you think
The cultural lives of birds An explosion of research is finding that culture — once thought to be exclusive to humans — is widespread among animals and plays an important part in their social lives and survival. Birds offer some of the most interesting and surprising examples of animal culture. Just as with human languages, songbirds have dialects that are learned and passed down through generations.
Spiders Might Be Quietly Disappearing
This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine . Jumping spiders are an obsession for me. But it wasn’t always so. Although never a spider hater or an arachnophobe, I was pretty ambivalent about them for most of my life. Then I learned about jumping spiders: I’ve reported on their impressive vision (as good as a cat’s in some ways!), their surprising smarts (they make plans!), and the discovery that they have REM-like sleep (and may even dream!). I was hooked.
Everyone should start counting spiders
CREDIT: PHOTOS BY MARTIN COOPER, MARSHAL HEDIN, iNATUREWATCH, BETSY MASON, ÓSCAR MENDEZ, WILLIAM PERRIN, THOMAS SHAHAN, DANIEL STANGE / CC BY-NC Spiders are among the least popular animals on Earth, despite being generally harmless and often very beneficial (and sometimes even cute). Our collective arachnid aversion could be causing us to overlook something even scarier: Spiders may be disappearing.
Everyone should start counting spiders
I’m obsessed with jumping spiders. But it wasn’t always so. While never a spider hater or arachnophobe, I was pretty ambivalent about them for most of my life. Then I learned about jumping spiders: I’ve reported on their impressive vision (as good as a cat’s in some ways!), their surprising smarts (they make plans!) and the discovery that they have REM sleep (and may even dream!). I was hooked. I also learned that jumping spiders may be in decline.
Do birds have language?
In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessentially human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lay farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning. Infants hear sounds and words, form memories of them, and later try to produce those sounds, improving as they grow up.
Las arañas son mucho más inteligentes de lo que uno creería
Investigadores de la cognición están descubriendo capacidades sorprendentes entre un grupo de arácnidos diminutos. La gente tiende a asociar la inteligencia con el tamaño del cerebro. Y como pauta general, esto tiene sentido: a más células cerebrales, más capacidades mentales. Los humanos, y muchos de los otros animales que hemos llegado a considerar como inusualmente brillantes, como los chimpancés y los delfines, tienen todos cerebros grandes.
Fish can recognize themselves in photos, further evidence they may be self-aware
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These fish can recognize themselves in photos, hinting at self-awareness Original
Some fish can recognize their own faces in photos and mirrors, an ability usually attributed to humans and other animals considered particularly brainy, such as chimpanzees, scientists report. Finding the ability in fish suggests that self-awareness may be far more widespread among animals than scientists once thought.
Guidance on the lonely road of writing | Nieman Storyboard
Article by EDITOR’S NOTE: Six mid-career freelance journalists who specialize in science and environmental stories offered takeaways from a weeklong workshop on nonfiction writing held at a guest ranch in Tucson, Arizona. One thing we journalists tend to forget: There’s safety in numbers. With time, we get good enough to get the job done, but maybe not as great as we dreamed we would be one day. We feel mostly alone in this journey.
Discovery of South Pole Was Deadly
NEW YORK CITY — In 1910, two men set out to be the first to reach the South Pole in a race that would be both heroic and tragic. The men had different reasons for their journeys, took different routes and made different decisions that would ultimately seal their respective fates, and those of their teams.
Shy Raccoons Are Better Learners Than Bold Ones, Study Finds
Wildlife management strategies focused on aggressive raccoons may be inadvertently boosting the proportion of more clever ones in cities. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Video Inside a box constructed to house a cognitive test in Laramie, Wyo., wild raccoons were presented with two buttons, one of which offered a food reward.
News stories about spiders are unfairly negative
Spiders are pretty remarkable. They live almost everywhere, from rainforests to deserts. Some even spend most of their lives underwater. They are smarter than you think, with some able to make plans and count. Scientists think they might even dream when they sleep. Yet many people find these eight-legged animals creepy or scary. Now, it seems, fake news may be partly to blame. Media reports about people’s encounters with spiders tend to be full of falsehoods, a new study finds.
News stories have caught spiders in a web of misinformation Original
Even spiders, it seems, have fallen victim to misinformation. Media reports about people’s encounters with spiders tend to be full of falsehoods with a distinctly negative spin. An analysis of a decade’s worth of newspaper stories from dozens of countries finds that nearly half of the reports contain errors, arachnologist Catherine Scott and colleagues report August 22 in Current Biology.
Ook springspinnen hebben wellicht een REM-slaap: ‘Het zou me niet verbazen als ze kunnen dromen’
Beeld: Wikipedia Commons Door beperkingen tijdens de pandemie werd gedragsecoloog en postdoctoraal onderzoeker Daniela Rößler uit haar lab aan de Universiteit van Konstanz in Duitsland geweerd. Daarom ving ze lokale springspinnen en hield ze die in doorzichtige plastic dozen op haar vensterbank. Ze wilde hun reacties testen op 3D-geprinte modellen van roofspinnen. Toen ze op een avond thuiskwam, merkte ze echter iets vreemds op. ‘Ze hingen allemaal aan de deksels van hun doosjes’, zegt Rößler.
The Animal Worlds That Lie Beyond Our Perception
What is special about humans that sets us apart from other animals? Less than some of us would like to believe. As scientists peer more deeply into the lives of other animals, they’re finding that our fellow creatures are far more emotionally, socially, and cognitively complex than we typically give them credit for. A deluge of innovative research is revealing that behavior we would call intelligent if humans did it can be found in virtually every corner of the animal kingdom.
Spiders Seem to Have REM-like Sleep and May Even Dream
Barred from her lab by pandemic restrictions, behavioral ecologist Daniela Rößler caught local jumping spiders and kept them in clear plastic boxes on her windowsill, planning to test their reactions to 3-D-printed models of predatory spiders. When she came home from dinner one night, though, she noticed something strange. “They were all hanging from the lids of their boxes,” says Rößler, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Konstanz in Germany.
The Animal Worlds That Lie Beyond Our Perception
What is special about humans that sets us apart from other animals? Less than some of us would like to believe. As scientists peer more deeply into the lives of other animals, they’re finding that our fellow creatures are far more emotionally, socially, and cognitively complex than we typically give them credit for. A deluge of innovative research is revealing that behavior we would call intelligent if humans did it can be found in virtually every corner of the animal kingdom.
La lingua parlata dagli uccelli
Gli scienziati hanno individuato alcuni tratti comuni al linguaggio umano nel canto di passeri e fringuelli. E ci sono somiglianze anche nelle strutture cerebrali Nel tentativo di scoprire cosa rende unici gli esseri umani, spesso ci confrontiamo con i nostri parenti più stretti: le grandi scimmie. Ma quando si tratta di comprendere la capacità tipicamente umana del linguaggio, gli scienziati stanno realizzando che gli indizi più affascinanti vanno cercati altrove.
Do birds have language? It depends on how you define it
Enlarge / Zebra finches sitting together on a tree branch and sunning. sagarmanis | Getty Images In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessential human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lie farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning.
Do birds have language? It depends on how you define it
In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessential human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lie farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning. Infants hear sounds and words, form memories of them, and later try to produce those sounds, improving as they grow up.
Do Birds Have Language?
In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessentially human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lay farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning. Infants hear sounds and words, form memories of them, and later try to produce those sounds, improving as they grow up.
Birds Are Stretching the Boundaries of Language
This article was originally published by Knowable Magazine. In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessentially human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lie farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning.
Birds Are Stretching the Boundaries of Language
This article was originally published by Knowable Magazine. In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessentially human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lie farther afield. Human language is made possible by an impressive aptitude for vocal learning.
The cultural lives of birds
In the cheeps, trills and tweets of birdsong, scientists find some parallels with human speech. Suddenly, biologists have hundreds of complete genome sequences of our feathered friends. That wealth of data is revolutionizing understanding of bird biology and evolution. Scientists have long thought that avian migration is guided by the magnetic field, but how, exactly? The search has led to three very different hypotheses.
See the world through a jumping spider’s eyes - and other senses
Imagine seeing the world largely in shades of gray — and a little blurry, too. But this view extends so far around to the sides that you can even make out dim shapes and motion behind you; no need to turn your head! The only color you see falls within a bright, X-shaped splash that moves with your gaze. At the center of this X, all is crisp and clear. It’s one small window of sharp, colorful detail in an otherwise gauzy gray world.
See the world through a jumping spider’s eyes - and other senses
Imagine seeing the world largely in shades of gray — and a little blurry, too. But this view extends so far around to the sides that you can even make out dim shapes and motion behind you; no need to turn your head! The only color you see falls within a bright, X-shaped splash that moves with your gaze. At the center of this X, all is crisp and clear. It’s one small window of sharp, colorful detail in an otherwise gauzy gray world.
Comparing bird language with human speech, scientists reveal parallels
In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessentially human capacity for language, scientists are finding that the most tantalizing clues lay farther afield. The cultural lives of birds An explosion of research is finding that culture — once thought to be exclusive to humans — is widespread among animals and plays an important part in their social lives and survival.
Spiders Are Way Smarter Than You Think
Arachnids are proof that animals don't need big brains to be brilliant. By Betsy Mason and Knowable Magazine People tend to associate intelligence with brain size. As a general guideline, this makes sense: more brain cells, more mental capabilities. Humans, and many of the other animals we’ve come to think of as unusually bright, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, all have large brains. It’s long been assumed that the smallest brains simply don’t have the capacity to support complex mental processes.
Spiders are much smarter than you think
Spider sense — Researchers are discovering surprising capabilities among a group of itsy-bitsy arachnids. Betsy Mason / Knowable – Oct 30, 2021 11:15 am UTC People tend to associate intelligence with brain size. And as a general guideline, this makes sense: more brain cells, more mental capabilities. Humans, and many of the other animals we’ve come to think of as unusually bright, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, all have large brains.
Spiders are much smarter than you think
People tend to associate intelligence with brain size. And as a general guideline, this makes sense: more brain cells, more mental capabilities. Humans, and many of the other animals we’ve come to think of as unusually bright, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, all have large brains. And it’s long been assumed that the smallest brains simply don’t have the capacity to support complex mental processes. But what if they do?
Spiders Are Much Smarter Than You Think
Betsy Mason Knowable Magazine October 29, 2021 (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) People tend to associate intelligence with brain size. And as a general guideline, this makes sense: more brain cells, more mental capabilities. Humans, and many of the other animals we’ve come to think of as unusually bright, such as chimpanzees and dolphins, all have large brains. And it’s long been assumed that the smallest brains simply don’t have the capacity to support complex mental processes. But what if they do?
Spiders are much smarter than you think
Cognition researchers are discovering surprising capabilities among a group of itsy-bitsy arachnids Support sound science and smart stories Help us make scientific knowledge accessible to all Donate today The cultural lives of birds An explosion of research is finding that culture — once thought to be exclusive to humans — is widespread among animals and plays an important part in their social lives and survival. Birds offer some of the most interesting and surprising examples of animal culture.
Jumping spiders’ remarkable senses capture a world beyond our perception Original
Imagine that the world is shades of gray and a little blurry, almost as if your lousy peripheral vision has taken over. This fuzzy field of view extends so far that you can make out dim shapes and motion behind you as well; no need to turn your head. The one bright spot is an X-shaped splash of color that moves with your gaze. At the center of this splash, everything is crisp and clear — a small window of sharp, colorful detail in a gauzy grayscape.
Would dogs return the favor if you gave them treats? It's complicated
Dogs may not be inclined to return favors to people, at least when it involves food. The result, published July 14 in PLOS ONE, is somewhat surprising since a previous study showed dogs will return favors in the form of food to other dogs. In other studies, dogs helped their owners when the people appeared to be trapped, and canines were able to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful people. So it seems reasonable to think dogs might reciprocate good deeds by humans.
Why Scientists Need To Be Better at Visualising Data
Photo: M.B.M./Unsplash Imagine a science textbook without images. No charts, no graphs, no illustrations or diagrams with arrows and labels. The science would be a lot harder to understand. That’s because humans are visual creatures by nature. People absorb information in graphic form that would elude them in words. Images are effective for all kinds of storytelling, especially when the story is complicated, as it so often is with science.
Marie Tharp's groundbreaking maps brought the seafloor to the world
Walk the halls of an academic earth sciences department, and you’ll likely find displayed on a wall somewhere a strikingly beautiful map of the world’s ocean floors. Completed in 1977, the map represents the culmination of the unlikely, and underappreciated, career of Marie Tharp. Her three decades of work as a geologist and cartographer at Columbia University gave scientists and the public alike their first glimpse of what the seafloor looks like.
How plate tectonics upended our understanding of Earth
Birth of a theory Some great ideas shake up the world. For centuries, the outermost layer of Earth was thought to be static, rigid, locked in place. But the theory of plate tectonics has rocked this picture of the planet to its core. Plate tectonics reveals how Earth’s surface is constantly in motion, and how its features — volcanoes, earthquakes, ocean basins and mountains — are intrinsically linked to its hot interior.
Opinion | This Election Map Will Be Everywhere. Don’t Let It Fool You. (Published 2020)
Election Maps Are Everywhere. Don’t Let Them Fool You. Part of a visual series from Opinion on how the election could go wrong.
Why solar geoengineering should be part of the climate crisis solution
For decades, climate scientist David Keith of Harvard University has been trying to get people to take his research seriously. He’s a pioneer in the field of geoengineering, which aims to combat climate change through a range of technological fixes. Over the years, ideas have included sprinkling iron in the ocean to stimulate plankton to suck up more carbon from the atmosphere or capturing carbon straight out of the air.
Why Solar Geoengineering Should be Part of the Climate Crisis Solution
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Twenty years ago you called geoengineering "deeply controversial." How has the controversy changed since then? Back then it was something that a pretty small group of people who thought about climate knew about — and mostly agreed they wouldn't talk about. And that was it. Now it's much more widely discussed. I think the taboo is reduced, for sure. It's certainly still controversial, but my sense is that there has been a real shift.
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