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About | Classical Genetics | Timelines | What's New | What's Hot

About | Classical Genetics | Timelines | What's New | What's Hot

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The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project: Providing world-wide, free access to classic scientific papers and other scholarly materials, since 1993.

More About:  ESP | OUR CONTENT | THIS WEBSITE | WHAT'S NEW | WHAT'S HOT

ESP News 18 Mar 2024 Updated: 

In The News

So much science, so little time.

To help you keep up with interesting new findings, the Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project now monitors the scientific literature and the popular press, seeking material relevant to the ESP community. The results are presented here.

Other Material

WOW !

Surprising stuff that really gets your attention.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Provocative

Challenging stuff that should make you think.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Looks Important

Current findings that, if they hold up, may be game changers.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

thumb

Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Popular Press

What the non-scientific press has to say about science.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

thumb

Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Curious

Odd and interesting.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

thumb

Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

Policy and Funding

What's happening where it matters: changes to the rules and to the flow of money.

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Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

thumb

Cockatoos Match Shapes Better Than Primates

How smart do you have to be to put a round peg in a round hole? Fairly smart, actually. Humans can put a round disk in a round hole at one year of age; by two, they can put a square shape in a square hole. Cockatoos, it turns out, are better at this than non-human primates. Cockatoos even show some very human tendencies: when challenged to put the right shape in the right hole to unlock some food, one enterprising bird made a tool and used that to pick the lock. New York Times, 21 Nov 2017.

ESP Quick Facts

ESP Origins

In the early 1990's, Robert Robbins was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, where he directed the informatics core of GDB — the human gene-mapping database of the international human genome project. To share papers with colleagues around the world, he set up a small paper-sharing section on his personal web page. This small project evolved into The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.

ESP Support

In 1995, Robbins became the VP/IT of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA. Soon after arriving in Seattle, Robbins secured funding, through the ELSI component of the US Human Genome Project, to create the original ESP.ORG web site, with the formal goal of providing free, world-wide access to the literature of classical genetics.

ESP Rationale

Although the methods of molecular biology can seem almost magical to the uninitiated, the original techniques of classical genetics are readily appreciated by one and all: cross individuals that differ in some inherited trait, collect all of the progeny, score their attributes, and propose mechanisms to explain the patterns of inheritance observed.

ESP Goal

In reading the early works of classical genetics, one is drawn, almost inexorably, into ever more complex models, until molecular explanations begin to seem both necessary and natural. At that point, the tools for understanding genome research are at hand. Assisting readers reach this point was the original goal of The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.

ESP Usage

Usage of the site grew rapidly and has remained high. Faculty began to use the site for their assigned readings. Other on-line publishers, ranging from The New York Times to Nature referenced ESP materials in their own publications. Nobel laureates (e.g., Joshua Lederberg) regularly used the site and even wrote to suggest changes and improvements.

ESP Content

When the site began, no journals were making their early content available in digital format. As a result, ESP was obliged to digitize classic literature before it could be made available. For many important papers — such as Mendel's original paper or the first genetic map — ESP had to produce entirely new typeset versions of the works, if they were to be available in a high-quality format.

ESP Help

Early support from the DOE component of the Human Genome Project was critically important for getting the ESP project on a firm foundation. Since that funding ended (nearly 20 years ago), the project has been operated as a purely volunteer effort. Anyone wishing to assist in these efforts should send an email to Robbins.

ESP Plans

With the development of methods for adding typeset side notes to PDF files, the ESP project now plans to add annotated versions of some classical papers to its holdings. We also plan to add new reference and pedagogical material. We have already started providing regularly updated, comprehensive bibliographies to the ESP.ORG site.

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In the small "Fly Room" at Columbia University, T.H. Morgan and his students, A.H. Sturtevant, C.B. Bridges, and H.J. Muller, carried out the work that laid the foundations of modern, chromosomal genetics. The excitement of those times, when the whole field of genetics was being created, is captured in this book, written in 1965 by one of those present at the beginning. R. Robbins

The ESP Project needs help with acquiring content, writing, editing, graphic production, and with financial support.

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Papers in Classical Genetics

The ESP began as an effort to share a handful of key papers from the early days of classical genetics. Now the collection has grown to include hundreds of papers, in full-text format.

Digital Books

Along with papers on classical genetics, ESP offers a collection of full-text digital books, including many works by Darwin and even a collection of poetry — Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg.

Timelines

ESP now offers a large collection of user-selected side-by-side timelines (e.g., all science vs. all other categories, or arts and culture vs. world history), designed to provide a comparative context for appreciating world events.

Biographies

Biographical information about many key scientists (e.g., Walter Sutton).

Selected Bibliographies

Bibliographies on several topics of potential interest to the ESP community are automatically maintained and generated on the ESP site.

ESP Picks from Around the Web (updated 07 JUL 2018 )