Buzz Battle: Katie Couric Versus Crocodile Hunter

Katie Couric’s debut on the CBS Evening News drew high ratings and mixed reviews, according to the Washington Post. Indeed, her debut drew strong buzz and excitement in the blogosphere — enought to have surpassed last week’s debacle around CBS’s doctored images of Couric.Read the rest

Niche Media Empower A New Generation Of Parents

I recently interviewed my pregnant wife Laura about her use of online discussion forums in light of her approach into motherhood. What we didn’t delve into was the fact that her hours spent on Urban Baby are often complemented with reality TV programming about pregnancy and newborns, most notably TLC’s A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby.… Read the rest

Monkey See, Monkey Do

An interesting story from the New Scientist about macaques (no, not the George Allen sort): 

Monkeys “imitate with a purpose”, matching their behaviour to others’ as a form of social learning, researchers report.

Such mimicry has previously been seen only in great apes – including humans and chimps – but now Italian researchers have recorded wonderful footage of the phenomenon in newborn rhesus macaques.

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