October 21, 2010
Etc: Campus News & Notes
CLEVER CROWS: When PBS’ program, Nature, takes a look at crows on Sunday, Oct. 24, UW Professor John Marzluff’s research will have a prominent role. Here’s what PBS had to say about it in their publicity for the program:
“Among the most intriguing findings about crows is that they are able to recognize individual human faces and pick them out of a crowd. Experts believe crows learn from each other’s experiences and are able pass that knowledge to succeeding generations. To test this theory, University of Washington Professor John Marzluff, and his team wore caveman masks as they caught and banded seven crows, establishing the masked ‘bad guys’ as distinct from their unmasked selves.
“With chilling accuracy, the crows recognized and scolded the masked researchers whenever they saw them again, even up to two years later, but behaved normally when the masks were removed. What was shocking wasn’t just that the crows could pick the scientists out of a crowd, but that they told each other about them. In fact, impressively, Marzluff was also able to show that the birds are able to pass this information on to offspring who never saw the original ‘bad guys.’ Even the U.S. Department of Defense is invested in Marzluff’s project in hopes that it may have applications in future military projects.”
The program, ominously titled A Murder of Crows, will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on KCTS, Channel 9.
RINGS HIS CHIMES: Brewster Denny, dean emeritus of the Evans School of Public Affairs, rang the Denny Bell for the 49th time in as many years the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 15, just before Homecoming. Denny was accompanied by family and friends. It’s his intention to ring that bell every year for a half-century, ending with the University’s sesqui-centennial in 2011.
MAKING HISTORY: History Professor Quintard Taylor has been elected president of the Western History Association, a group formed in 1961 to study “the history of the North American West in its varied aspects and broadest sense.” Taylor will serve as president from October 2010 to October 2011, during the group’s 50th anniversary. Learn more online here.
