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A ma’am or a sir, a him or a her…maybe BOTH, when attempting to score a mate. Those crazy cuttlefish are at it again with their amazing talent to morph.
New research finds that these clever mollusks use their color-changing abilities in creative ways: by pretending to be the other gender.
Well, half-pretending, that is.
When a male cuttlefish is wooing a lady, he often “cheats” by painting typical female patterns on one side of his body, while the other side (the one facing the female) shows off typical male patterns. This gender-bending disguise fools rival males into thinking they’re seeing just a couple of ladies hanging out. That means more of an opportunity for the cheater cuttlefish to mate.
Culum Brown, a biologist at Macquarie University in Australia and his colleagues first noticed the cuttlefish’s “two-face” disguise in their laboratory, where they have a semi-natural enclosure for the mollusks. The scientists were conducting a study on anti-predator behavior when a group of Sepia plangon, or mourning cuttlefish, began courting. The researchers noticed that the males sometimes displayed a strange, split-down-the-middle coloration. On the side facing the female, they’d be getting their groove on, showing pulsating stripes to woo said lady. On the side facing a rival male, they’d show mottled camouflage (boredom, perhaps?), a typical female look.
The wily cuttlefish doesn’t always display this mating pattern. The behavior occurred only in groups where there were two males and one female, the researchers found. Extra females might have disrupted the male’s concentration or simply made it hard for him to orient his disguise in the right direction.
The other thought is that fish brawls may ensue when there are more males present. A less dominant fish might never get to mate if a fight ensues.
READ MORE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/animal-mating-rituals-cuttlefish-gender-switch_n_1651325.html
This legal brawl has turned into quite the debacle. I think of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video, but the knives are replaced with stacks of paperwork that can give you a pretty nasty cut as well. Samsung and Apple have been locked in a battle full of processors, haptic feedback, and Wi-Fi since April.
The first shot was fired when Apple filed an injunction and suit in federal district court in San Jose, California, stating that Samsung was violating their patents with their Galaxy line of products, including mobile phones, and tablet devices, by blatantly copying the iPad, and iPhone, stating the protection of their design patents, which Apple claims Samsung violated, in a “look and feel” aspect, with the claims that Samsung’s icons, menu, and overall design was too similar to the iPad and iPhone to be considered merely competition, along with claims of violating Apple’s patents that cover engineering of their devices.
This legal challenge was only the beginning of the “whose is bigger” fight that is still going on. The larger picture of this tech war is that more than 20 different cases are open in 10 or more different countries, making this more drawn out and over the top than you can imagine. These lawyers must feel like it’s time to put on armor, and grab swords, and charge at the enemy.
Check the clock, its irony time: Samsung supplies a massive amount of parts for Apple’s devices. The millions, upon millions of Apple devices that are out there, are full of Samsung. See? I told you this was a hell of a battle. Recent rulings in Australia’s high court and in U.S. federal court came out in favor of….Samsung. Australia has given Samsung the go-ahead to sell their challenged devices within their borders. Apple’s lawyers say their appeal is coming, but it may not come soon enough to stop Samsung from capitalizing on their name plastered in the media over the dance of lawsuits, to draw the attention of potential customers, excited to hear that they can either buy the device they’ve been waiting to hear they can, or maybe anti-Apple people that are looking for an alternative.
The U.S. court ruling was likely not influenced by the Australian decision, as judges in this country do not for the most part see rulings from other countries as precedent for our own to be interpreted. Hold it! There’s more!
Samsung has filed its own injunctions, and lawsuits against Apple, specifically in Italy, and France (the home of organ grinders with monkeys, and wine for breakfast). Their paperwork states “Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology”. Curious, aren’t you? Allow me to alleviate:
Samsung has taken Apple to the dance for the following 3 reasons, that they claim violate their tech patents:
1) Technology that tells a handset what format to send data as
2) The technology that is used to resolve errors when sending text messages
3) The manner in which the device bundles low amounts of data in order to improve efficiency.
Samsung chose to begin their barrage in these two countries for their established rulings, and procedures for telecommunications technology lawsuits and injunctions.
This technology that Samsung is suing over is inherent in ALL mobile devices. They’re kicking rocks at each other, waiting to see either whose shins will hurt more, or the teacher will break it up. Either way, everyone else has gathered around to watch.
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