Word: herman
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...dappled pool not far from the clamor of Waikiki Beach, two female dolphins poke their heads out of the water, waiting for a command. "O.K.," says Louis Herman, founder and director of the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, "now let's try a tandem creative." Two graduate students, positioned at opposite ends of the 50-ft. tank, throw full body and soul into communicating this message to the animals, Phoenix and Akeakamai. First the humans ask the dolphins to pay attention by holding a finger high in the air. Then they tap the index fingers of each hand together, forming...
...terribly surprising that apes, humanity's closest relatives, might possess some measure of smarts. But is it possible that more distantly related species might also have some capacity for symbolic communication? Herman offers a partial answer through his work with dolphins, animals whose ancestors diverged from other mammals' more than 45 million years...
Such requests probe the dolphin's understanding of word order in ways somewhat analogous to the work with Kanzi. Herman insists that the dolphin's grammatical competence is at least as sophisticated as Kanzi's. Herman's group has also determined that dolphins can form a generalized concept about an object: they respond correctly to commands involving a hoop, no matter whether the hoop is round, octagonal or square. They also seem to retain a mental image of an object whether or not it is present in their environment. Thus they can accurately report whether a ball or hoop...
...dolphins have a better attitude toward their schooling than many children. When correct, they squeak excitedly as they race back to the trainer. When wrong, they sag noticeably and look about as depressed as it is possible for these benign creatures to look. Herman notes that they are not above resorting to tricks familiar to every student, such as rushing over to another object after choosing the wrong one, or positioning themselves at some ambiguous midpoint between two choices with the apparent hope that the trainer will say "Right!" On occasion, when wrong, they will take their chagrin...
...heart that won Jean Harris' freedom. A New York State parole-board panel approved her release last week after Governor Mario Cuomo cleared the way by granting her clemency in December. Harris served 12 years of a 15-year- to-life sentence for shooting her lover, "Scarsdale Diet" Dr. Herman Tarnower. Harris, 69, has been hospitalized following coronary surgery complications. After her release, she can finally stop serving life and start living...