18 | New Scientist | 22 August 2020
ONE of the world’s biggest radio
telescopes has been damaged
during a tropical storm. A cable at
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico
snapped on 10 August, slashing
a 30-metre-long hole in the
telescope’s 300-metre-wide dish.
The damage occurred during
Tropical Storm Isaias, but according
to the University of Central Florida,
which helps run the observatory,
it isn’t yet clear whether the cable
broke because of the storm.
“We have a team of experts
assessing the situation,” said
Francisco Cordova, the director
of the observatory, in a statement.
“Our focus is assuring the safety
of our staff, protecting the facilities
and equipment and restoring the
facility to full operations.”
Arecibo has gone through
tough times recently. Repairs from
Hurricane Maria, which caused
widespread damage in Puerto
Rico in 2017, are still ongoing. ❚AstronomyIF YOU want to improve a dog’s
behaviour, a tasty treat is more
likely to succeed than an electric
shock, researchers have found.
“We advocate the use of reward-
based training in modifying dog
behaviour, as our work indicates
it is more effective than training
which involves aversive stimuli,
and it carries fewer risks to dog
welfare,” says Jonathan Cooper
at the University of Lincoln, UK.
Cooper and his colleagues
compared the two training
methods using 63 dogs split into
three groups. All the animals
required training for failing
to come when called and for
repeatedly chasing livestock.
The team asked professionalhandlers nominated by the
Electronic Collar Manufacturers
Association (ECMA), a trade
group based in Brussels, Belgium,
to train one group. They used
e-collars that can deliver an
electric shock along with
additional methods, including
pulling the dog’s leash or offering
food and praise. They also trained
a second group using the same
methods, but without the use
of e-collars, as a control.
In the third group, professional
members of the UK-based
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
used a training method that
incorporates praise, play and food
as rewards. All of the dogs were
trained in the presence of pennedlivestock and wore 10-metre
leashes and e-collars during the
study, but the collars were turned
off in the latter two groups.
Cooper and his colleagues
found that those in the reward
group responded to commands
faster and with fewer reminders,
he says. For example, the reward
group came to the trainer on
average 1.13 seconds after the
“come” command, compared
with 1.35 seconds for the e-collar
group and 1.24 seconds for the
control group (Frontiers inVeterinary Science, doi.org/d6kt).
“The e-collar trainers were good,
as they consistently improved
recall in dogs that were referred for
poor recall, but the reward-based
trainers were better,” says Cooper.
ECMA spokesperson Jamie
Penrith, who wasn’t involved in
the study, says the results don’t
mean e-collars aren’t needed. “A
food reward method is dependent
on the owner being there to give
the reward, but in 85 per cent of
dog attacks on livestock, nobody
is present,” he says. “The e-collar
conditions the dog to associate a
livestock attack with something
aversive, independent of the
owner’s presence.” ❚AnimalsTreats beat shocks for dog training
Leah CraneA dish disaster
The iconic Arecibo Observatory has taken a massive blow
ARECIBOOBSE
RV
ATORY,UNIVERS
ITYOFCENTRAL^ F
LORIDANews
“Dogs trained with rewards
responded to the ‘come’
command after an average
of 1.13 seconds” Christa Lesté-Lasserre