WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)
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Getting It Together – Ending Lab Animal Use
Get PDFU.S. federal agencies are advancing coordinated strategies to phase out animal testing and adopt innovative, humane research technologies. These new approaches aim to deliver more accurate and ethical scientific results by focusing on human biology
Breaking down the barriers to animal-free research
Get PDFFor centuries, animals have been used in research due to their genetic and physiological similarities to humans. However, significant differences exist between humans and animals, which have the potential to confound results obtained from such experiments. These differences result in reduced translatability of animal data to humans, which is a major contributing factor to the 92% failure rate for novel therapies in clinical trials. Advances in scientific research have enabled the development of human-focused New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), which include in silico and 3-D in vitro models. By harnessing these novel approaches, greater predictive power for human biology, human diseases and assessment of novel therapies could be achieved. However, several obstacles remain to their wider adoption, including potential financial constraints, publication bias, and some concerns about the reliability of NAMs due to the novelty of this field, compared to animal studies. Here, we outline the differences between humans and animals used in research, discuss in detail the obstacles to the greater adoption of NAMs in research, and provide recommendations on how to accelerate a shift toward human-focused research
How To Message Plant-Based Diets And Products In Southeast Asia: A Social Media Analysis
No full textThis study will employ social listening analysis to identify key beliefs and misconceptions for South East Asians around plant-based diets and alternative proteins. It will use this rich understanding to recommend messaging strategies to address current misconceptions and inspire diet change. The details of the preregistration are provided in an uploaded PDF. It was adapted from the standard OSF Pre-registration template, which does not apply well to qualitative research
The Moral Circle by Jeff Sebo
No full textIn The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, philosopher Jeff Sebo explores the boundaries of ethics, urging us to expand our compassion beyond the usual limits
Consciousness of octopuses—on their own terms
No full textBecause cephalopods are so different from the vertebrate lineage, their possible consciousness must be assessed on the basis of their heritage and abilities. Cephalopods have evolved in water, a denser medium than air, and their perception is adapted to it. They have inherited the molluscan mantle cavity and hydrostatic muscle type, which has led to a more distributed motor control system despite a centralized brain, and have evolved a completely novel skin display system. Using these abilities, octopuses can form concepts, plan for the future, generate a cognitive map, and self-monitor for apparent pain and manipulate communication. Most cephalopods use the skin display system fairly automatically to deceive potential predators, although cuttlefish and squid also communicate with conspecifics. They do not appear to have the social sophistication to form a Theory of Mind when using it, but some squid can divorce the skin output from its motivational background sufficiently to produce two separately motivated displays in different directions at the same time. Thus, the cephalopods do appear to be moving towards consciousness, but on their own terms rather than our vertebrate terms
Cephalopod consciousness: Asking the right questions
No full textJennifer Mather has provided a comprehensive and fascinating overview of the various cognitive accomplishments of cephalopods and their sensory, behavioral, and neurophysiological attributes. The advances in our understanding of a clade that has been separated from vertebrate evolution by well over half a billion years is a testament to advances in both methodology and the questions we now feel free to address. Mather embeds her review in the issue of consciousness, which is certainly a perennial issue in mental evolution, going back to Romanes and earlier. I argue that the term “consciousness” has such a checkered history and is used in such diverse ways even today that, despite current popular enthusiasm, it is scientifically misleading
Cephalopod consciousness on “their own terms”: Who are “they”?
No full textMather’s call to consider cephalopods’ consciousness “on their own terms” raises the question of the extent to which cephalopods can be considered a homogenous group. While coloeoid cephalopods share traits that strongly distinguish them from other molluscs and invertebrates, they show vast ecological and morphological diversity, with implications for the design of empirical investigations of consciousness. Extending Mather’s argument, we apply Birch et al.’s (2020) five-dimensional model to compare octopus, cuttlefish, squid, and nautilus. This comparison shows that even within a graded rather than categorical framework, putative consciousness profiles depend on which taxa are included in discussions of “cephalopod consciousness.” The resulting uncertainty highlights that choosing a taxonomic level for discussing animal consciousness remains a central conceptual challenge
Do Pets Really Help Aging People Stay Mentally Sharp?
No full textResearch on the impact of pet ownership on cognitive decline shows promise
Wildlife conservation and adaptation to humans
Get PDFFor many animal species, the ability to adapt to coexistence with the human species and to the environmental changes that humans cause is a biological imperative. This adaptive capacity varies not only between species, but within species. Studying individual differences in animals’ behavioral, cognitive and physiological adaptability is important for integrating ethology and conservation. Findings about animal cognitive capacities, including learning, need to be applied in conservation—but humans need to be educated about ethology, coexistence and conservation too
Ending Cage Farming in the EU: The Fight for Animal Welfare
Get PDFCompassion in World Farming\u27s End the Cage Age campaign sought to eliminate cages for farmed animals in the EU. Despite setbacks, a 2024 consensus promises a phase-out of caged animal farming, benefiting animals, farmers, and the environment