Scientists—and dog lovers—have long known that dogs are remarkably good at interpreting our laughs, frowns, and tears. But the biology behind this ability has remained largely unexplored until now. 

In a study published in the Cell Press journal iScience on August 7, researchers peered inside the brains of dogs as they viewed images of various human expressions. The brain scans revealed that dogs process smiles in a unique brain region and, for the first time, provided evidence that dogs can distinguish between negative facial expressions, including anger, sadness, and fear. 

Researchers from ELTE Eötvös Loránd University and the HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network have now experimentally demonstrated that an ectothermic vertebrate infected with a virus actively seeks cooler, rather than warmer, environments to regulate its body temperature. This strategy, known as behavioural cooling, has so far been documented only rarely in the animal kingdom, having previously been reported in a handful of arthropod species infected with bacterial or viral pathogens and in rats infected with bacteria. The new findings suggest that behavioural cooling may also help animals to combat viral infections.

Researchers identified functional noncoding variants in an enhancer of TBX1 that may contribute to tetralogy of Fallot, the most common cyanotic congenital heart defect. Using whole-genome sequencing in 428 patients and blood vessel organoids, the study shows that disruption of this enhancer reduces TBX1 expression and impairs vascular development linked to the cardiac outflow tract.