Behavior Brief

A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research

abby olena
| 4 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
4:00
Share

WIKIMEDIA, MDF

Scientists understand the signs that predict aggressive behavior in songbirds fairly well, but sometimes signals fall short—a bird might behave in a way that suggests aggression is on its way, but never act. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle have now shown that individual song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) are consistent in how honest their signals are over time and that personality seems to influence whether signals actually forecast aggression. The work was published this month (December 4) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The team recorded songs from 69 wild male song sparrows in Seattle, and then played the songs back to the birds in a move aimed to generate aggression. The researchers assigned each bird scores for aggressive signaling and behavior ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • abby olena

    Abby Olena, PhD

    As a freelancer for The Scientist, Abby reports on new developments in life science for the website.
Share
Image of a woman in a microbiology lab whose hair is caught on fire from a Bunsen burner.
April 1, 2025, Issue 1

Bunsen Burners and Bad Hair Days

Lab safety rules dictate that one must tie back long hair. Rosemarie Hansen learned the hard way when an open flame turned her locks into a lesson.

View this Issue
Faster Fluid Measurements for Formulation Development

Meet Honeybun and Breeze Through Viscometry in Formulation Development

Unchained Labs
Conceptual image of biochemical laboratory sample preparation showing glassware and chemical formulas in the foreground and a scientist holding a pipette in the background.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Quality Control Standards

sartorius logo
An illustration of PFAS bubbles in front of a blue sky with clouds.

PFAS: The Forever Chemicals

sartorius logo
Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

dna-script-primarylogo-digital

Products

Atelerix

Atelerix signs exclusive agreement with MineBio to establish distribution channel for non-cryogenic cell preservation solutions in China

Green Cooling

Thermo Scientific™ Centrifuges with GreenCool Technology

Thermo Fisher Logo
Singleron Avatar

Singleron Biotechnologies and Hamilton Bonaduz AG Announce the Launch of Tensor to Advance Single Cell Sequencing Automation

Zymo Research Logo

Zymo Research Launches Research Grant to Empower Mapping the RNome