sciencetakeLassie Got Help, Would Your Dog? Usually the title of a scientific paper leaves anyone without the appropriate Ph.D. scratching their head in puzzlement. As you might imagine from the reference to a mythical episode of the “Lassie” TV show (Timmy never did fall down a well, although Lassie did), this is a report on whether dogs will help, or not help, their owners. Julia E. Meyers-Manor who studies animal behavior and cognition had some experiments going on investigating empathy in rats that were running into some difficulties. “My children had buried me in a pile of pillows and I started calling out for help to my husband, who did not come to my aid.”

Source: New York Times July 31, 2018 06:30 UTC