The Secrets Inside Your Dog's Mind

TIME: "Henry the schnoodle just did a remarkable thing. Understanding a pointed finger may seem easy, but consider this: while humans and canines can do it naturally, no other known species in the animal kingdom can. Consider too all the mental work that goes into figuring out what a pointed finger means: paying close attention to a person, recognizing that a gesture reflects a thought, that another animal can even have a thought. Henry, as Kivell affectionately admits, may not be "the sharpest knife in the drawer," but compared to other animals, he's a true scholar.

It's no coincidence that the two species that pass Hare's pointing test also share a profound cross-species bond. Many animals have some level of social intelligence, allowing them to coexist and cooperate with other members of their species. Wolves, for example--the probable ancestors of dogs--live in packs that hunt together and have a complex hierarchy. But dogs have evolved an extraordinarily rich social intelligence as they've adapted to life with us. All the things we love about our dogs--the joy they seem to take in our presence, the many ways they integrate themselves into our lives--spring from those social skills. Hare and others are trying to figure out how the intimate coexistence of humans and dogs has shaped the animal's remarkable abilities."

Oddball Stars Explained: New Observations Solve Longstanding Mystery Of Tipped Stars

Science Daily: "A pair of unusual stars known as DI Herculis has confounded astronomers for three decades, but new observations have provided data that they say solve the mystery once and for all."

Fossil Find Challenges Theories on T. Rex

NY Times: "The discovery of the creature, Raptorex kriegsteini, calls into question theories about the evolution of a much larger and heavier dinosaur."

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's LAMP shedding light on permanently shadowed regions of the moon

EurelAlert: "NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on June 18 of this year, has begun its extensive exploration of the lunar environment and will return more data about the moon than any previous mission. The Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project, developed by Southwest Research Institute, is an integral part of the LRO science investigation. LAMP uses a novel method to peer into the perpetual darkness of the moon's so-called permanently shadowed regions."

Ear to the Universe starts listening

SciAm: "US radio array starts its search for extraterrestrial life."

Genetic Secrets Of Date Palm Unlocked

Science Daily: "Researchers have mapped a draft version of the date palm genome, unlocking many of its genetic secrets."

Under Pressure: The Impact Of Stress On Decision Making

Science Daily: "We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we carefully deliberate the pros and cons of our choices, taking into consideration past experiences in similar situations before making a final decision. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making."

First rocky planet outside solar system found

CNN: "Scientists have discovered the first confirmed Earthlike planet outside our solar system, they announced Wednesday."

With a flash of light, a neuron's function is revealed

EurekAlert: "Using light, scientists traced a fish's swimming response to the neurons that control it. Their technique could become a powerful way to learn how biological systems work."

In absence of other democratic institutions, freedom of press can lead to cycles of violence

EurekAlert: "While many have argued that media freedom is integral to a functioning democracy and respect for human rights, a new study is the first to examine the effects of media freedom in countries that lack such democratic institutions as fair elections."

Yale team finds mechanism that constructs key brain structure

EurekAlert: "Yale University researchers have found a molecular mechanism that allows the proper mixing of neurons during the formation of columns essential for the operation of the cerebral cortex, they report in the Sept. 16 online issue of the journal Nature."

Genetic sex determination let ancient species adapt to ocean life

EurekAlert: "A new analysis of extinct sea creatures suggests that the transition from egg-laying to live-born young opened up evolutionary pathways that allowed these ancient species to adapt to and thrive in open oceans."

Scientists cure color blindness in monkeys

EurekAlert: "Writing online in the journal Nature, scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Washington cast a rosy light on the potential for gene therapy to treat adult vision disorders involving cone cells -- the most important cells for vision in people. Scientists used gene therapy to cure two squirrel monkeys of color blindness -- the most common genetic disorder in people."

Swift Makes Best-ever Ultraviolet Portrait Of Andromeda Galaxy

ScienceDaily: "In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own."

'Alert Status' Area In Brain Discoved: New Understanding Of Anesthesia

ScienceDaily: "A new understanding of how anesthesia and anesthesia-like states are controlled in the brain opens the door to possible new future treatments of various states of loss of consciousness, such as reversible coma, according to scientists."

Strange Dwarf Planet Has Red Spot

Space.com: "The dwarf planet Haumea has a dark, red spot, scientists find"

Fake Video Dramatically Alters Eyewitness Accounts

ScienceDaily: "Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that fake video evidence can dramatically alter people's perceptions of events, even convincing them to testify as an eyewitness to an event that never happened."

Molecular Evidence Supports Key Tenet Of Darwin's Evolution Theory

EurekAlert: "An international team of researchers has discovered evidence at the molecular level in support of one of the key tenets of Darwin's theory of evolution. As a model system, the research focused on one specific molecular machine, the TIM complex, which transports proteins into mitochondria."

Direct evidence of role of sleep in memory formation is uncovered

EurekAlert: "A Rutgers University, Newark and Collége de France, Paris, research team has pinpointed for the first time the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur, according to research published in Nature Neuroscience."

Reading Kafka improves learning, suggests UCSB psychology study

EurekAlert: "Reading a book by Franz Kafka -- or watching a film by director David Lynch -- could make you smarter. According to research by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, exposure to surrealism enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions."