David Barrie > Quotes

“In 1693 a new map of the coast of France based on an elaborate survey supervised by the astronomers Jean Picard (1620–82)”
― David Barrie, Sextant: A Young Man's Daring Sea Voyage and the Men Who Mapped the World's Oceans – The Timeless Story of Maritime Navigation and the Wonder of Discovery

“captive birds will repeatedly try to escape from a cage in their preferred migratory direction.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“Women, for example, prefer male sexual partners whose immune systems differ widely from their own.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“Perhaps that explains why we unconsciously smell our hands after shaking hands with strangers.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“Brains are very greedy consumers of energy, which means a lot more food is necessary to keep them going. It does not pay to have a bigger brain than you really need.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“The characteristic patterns of firing found in the grid cells that support map-like representations of space also appear when human subjects perform an entirely abstract cognitive task that has nothing whatever to do with navigation.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“Danaus plexippus.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way

“Fishermen in Ghana can apparently find fish by sticking an oar in the water. The flat blade acts like a directional antenna that collects their underwater grunts and whines; by putting his ear to the handle, the fisherman can determine roughly where the fish are.”
― David Barrie, Supernavigators: Exploring the Wonders of How Animals Find Their Way