Sheep Spot Famous Faces to Help With Brain Research

Sheep Spot Famous Faces to Help With Brain Research

There are about 1.1 billion sheep in the world. And almost 1.1 billion of them don’t know what former U.S. President Barack Obama looks like. But at least 8 sheep in England do. They can recognize the former leader by his face.

Researchers at the famous University of Cambridge taught sheep to recognize four famous people. They wanted to learn more about how sheep use their brains.

The training took only a few days. Researchers learned that sheep can recognize faces about as well as monkeys and people can.

The team trained the British sheep to recognize four faces. These faces belonged to Obama, British newscaster Fiona Bruce, and actors Emma Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal.

I wanted to use people that the sheep had not met,” said Jenny Morton. She led the research team.

Morton studies Huntington’s disease. That is a brain illness that affects people. Morton uses sheep brains as models for human brains.

Seven years ago, Morton bought eight ewes, or female sheep, off the back of a truck. They were going to be killed. Instead, they are helping to move Morton’s research forward.

The sheep went through three tests. They looked at two screens.

In the first test, one screen was black. The other showed a picture of one of the four famous people. If a sheep went up to the picture within 15 seconds, the sheep won a snack from the testing machine.

In the second test, the sheep saw a picture of an object on one screen. The object was about the size of a head, but had no face. The other screen showed a famous person.

The third test had pictures of two faces. One was the face of a stranger. The other was the face of a famous person.

12. In each test, the sheep had to pick out the famous person to get a treat. On average, the sheep picked the famous person 8 out of 10 times. That is an 80% success rate.

The sheep were trained using forward-facing photos. A later test used photos that were moved to the side, or photos of the stars with different hairstyles. The animals’ success rate dropped by 15 percent. That’s about the same rate that humans score.

In another test, the sheep easily picked out photos of the people who cared for them. They could recognize the people they knew even in flat photos.

You can watch the test online at tinyurl.com/nfysheep .

News for You, December 6, 2017

Barber Helps Kids with Autism Enjoy Getting Haircuts

In 2015, Francis Jacob opened his barbershop. It is in Quebec, Canada.

One day, he met Fauve Lafrentere. The 30-year-old mother had a question for him. Would he try to cut her son’s hair?

Her 4-year-old son, Wyatt, had autism. He hated getting haircuts.

I took the challenge and I succeeded,” Jacob said. He now gives haircuts to other kids with autism.

Autism is a disorder of the brain. Some kids with autism have trouble relating to other people. Some have trouble with senses, like touch and sound.

Some autistic kids hate the feeling of hands in their hair and the noise of scissors. Wyatt hated having his hair touched.

Jacob had no training in helping kids with autism. So he took the haircut slowly.

I just went with the emotions of the moment,” he said.

Jacob and Wyatt ate candy. Jacob let Wyatt put on music. They walked around the shop. They talked and played. Sometimes Wyatt sat in a chair. Sometimes he lay on the floor.

Jacob followed and cut the boy’s hair a little at a time. Ninety minutes later, Wyatt left with a good haircut. He also had a smile on his face.

Wyatt’s mother was very happy.

Lafreniere praised Jacob all around town. She even posted a photo of Jacob and Wyatt online. Other parents started to bring their autistic kids in for cuts. The photo spread across the internet.

All this attention from around the world is quite something for me and Wyatt’s mom.” Jacob said.

News for you, December 6, 2017

Gerrymandering:

They say it wastes the votes of people whose party is not in power. They also say it is partly to blame for our bitter politics. They say if districts were more diverse, lawmakers would have to make people in both parties happy.

The region is home to many high-tech firms. They pay very well. But there is not enough housing. That means prices go too high for low-income workers. And it means James-Penney sleeps in her old Volvo.

A new study has found a strong connection between higher homeless rates and higher housing costs. The study was done by the University of Washington and Zillow. That is a website with real estate information.

12. One of the cities studied was Los Angeles. The study showed that a 5% rent increase meant 2,000 more homeless people there.

The city has a team of trained police officers and social workers. They visit homeless camps. They try to get people into housing. The city often has to clean out the camps and haul away things that are left.

To Stay or to Leave

Carlos Rodriguez lived in the island’s central mountains. But his family lost its house and car in the storm. He moved with his wife and two girls to Rhode Island. They are staying with a relative. Rodriguez is looking for a job and a home.

15. “You have no idea how much I would like to be able to help my family,” he said. “I’m here trying to do that.”

Ivone Nieves understands. She is a teacher. She worked in water up to her ankles after Maria. But she moved to Orlando, Florida, earlier this month. She had no water or power in Puerto Rico. She wanted a better future for her children. She already has two job offers.

Sheep Spot Famous Faces to Help With Brain Research

There are about 1.1 billion sheep in the world. And almost 1.1 billion of them don’t know what former U.S. President Barack Obama looks like. But at least 8 sheep in England do. They can recognize the former leader by his face.

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