ogs are aware of when their own bodies present an obstacle to them, according to a study published today (February 18) in . In the experiment, dogs asked by their owners to pick up an object attached to the mat they’re sitting on apparently understand that they need to move their bodies in order to complete the task.While several studies have attempted to identify self-awareness in canines, few have successfully done so. Dogs typically fail the well-known mirror test, for example, in which an animal is marked with pen or paint and then presented with a mirror; animals are considered to have...…ogs are aware of when their own bodies present an obstacle to them, according to a study published today (February 18) in . In the experiment, dogs asked by their owners to pick up an object attached to the mat they’re sitting on apparently understand that they need to move their bodies in order to complete the task.While several studies have attempted to identify self-awareness in canines, few have successfully done so. Dogs typically fail the well-known mirror test, for example, in which an animal is marked with pen or paint and then presented with a mirror; animals are considered to have...WW…

eople’s health and lifestyle are influenced by the genes of their partners, according to a study published last month (December 14) in . Using data from more than 80,000 couples in the UK Biobank, researchers identified multiple correlations between individuals’ traits and their partners’ genomes, and concluded that around one-quarter of those associations were partly causal, with one person’s DNA having indirect effects on the other person’s health or behavior.“I was really excited to see this paper,” says Emily McLean, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford College of Emory University in...…eople’s health and lifestyle are influenced by the genes of their partners, according to a study published last month (December 14) in . Using data from more than 80,000 couples in the UK Biobank, researchers identified multiple correlations between individuals’ traits and their partners’ genomes, and concluded that around one-quarter of those associations were partly causal, with one person’s DNA having indirect effects on the other person’s health or behavior.“I was really excited to see this paper,” says Emily McLean, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford College of Emory University in...WW…

arah Byosiere was at a barbecue just outside Melbourne, Australia, when she came up with the idea of presenting optical illusions to dogs. It was 2015, and she was visiting La Trobe University shortly after finishing a master’s degree on canine cognition back home in the US. Chatting at the barbecue with a group of psychologists who were studying how the human brain perceives visual illusions, it struck her that the same approach could provide a window into how dogs see the world around them—and how their perception differs from our own. “We had this crazy question of: Could you give a dog...…arah Byosiere was at a barbecue just outside Melbourne, Australia, when she came up with the idea of presenting optical illusions to dogs. It was 2015, and she was visiting La Trobe University shortly after finishing a master’s degree on canine cognition back home in the US. Chatting at the barbecue with a group of psychologists who were studying how the human brain perceives visual illusions, it struck her that the same approach could provide a window into how dogs see the world around them—and how their perception differs from our own. “We had this crazy question of: Could you give a dog...WW…