Social complexity creates brainy parrots

Brainy: A Machine Learning Library

Brainy is a newly created cross-platform machine learning library written in Java. It defines interfaces for common types of machine learning tasks and implementations of the most popular algorithms. Brainy utilizes a complex mathematical infrastructure which is also part of the library. The main difference compared to other ML libraries is the sophisticated system for feature definition and ma...

Brainy Days in Jerusalem: an Interdisciplinary Celebration

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is mysterious because it involves deficits in social cognition and language, both of which are central to what makes us human. ASD is known to have a strong genetic basis, but little is known about the molecular and neuronal mechanisms. Recent studies identified mutations in hundreds of genes that may contribute to the risk of ASD. We have found that chromatin reg...

Who or What Creates? A Conceptual Framework for Social Creativity

Acute pancreatitis in parrots.

Acute pancreatitis was diagnosed in three parrots. Antemortem diagnosis of pancreatitis in the avian patient is rarely documented, and should be suspected in birds showing clinical signs attributable to abdominal pain or gastro-intestinal dysfunction. However, not all birds with confirmed pancreatitis display these signs. A serum amylase level greater than 1,500 U/L is suggestive of pancreatiti...

Fluorescent signaling in parrots.

Fluorescent pigments appear to glow because ultraviolet (UV) light is absorbed and reemitted at longer wavelengths. Humans use fluorescence as a highlighter, but it remains a mystery whether naturally occurring fluorescence functions as a signal or is a by-product of pigment structure. Here, we test for evidence of signaling using the fluorescent plumage of parrots (1). We performed mate choice...