Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence

A) incredible article, one of the few where I didn’t feel compelled to give up and find the underlying paper. Well written, beautiful diagrams, appreciably concise. Thanks for posting!

B) The image of ~starlings hanging out with dinosaurs blew my mind. Talk about an odd juxtaposition! But I’m no dinosaur nerd, and haven’t seen the new generation of shows.

C) I just have to nitpick this to defend my buddies:

  Modern birds have some of the most advanced cognitive capabilities in the animal kingdom, comparable only with mammals.

Maybe true for vertebrates, but octopuses deserve a spot on that list!

The figures in the nature article are worth it. Even my non-nerdy wife thought it was kind of interesting.

Also cats are smarter than humans because they found a way to enslave humanity without even having to pretend to care about us. Dogs rank one level below, in that respect.