Humans Can Track Like Dogs; No Word on Tail-Chasing
Imagine that, by one of lifes more serious vicissitudes, you had to serve as someones dog. Cheer up: you would do better than you think, at least at what might seem the hardest part of the job, tracking a scent.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that people can follow a scent surprisingly well, as long as they do not mind abandoning all dignity, putting their nose right to the ground and crawling along with their bottoms in the air.
But the achievement, as Samuel Johnson remarked in another context, is like a dogs walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
Posted by: .com 2006-12-18 |