XPost: misc.news.internet.discuss   
   From: here@is.invalid   
      
   What makes dogs so special?   
      
   Science says love   
      
   The idea that animals can experience love was once anathema to the   
   psychologists who studied them, seen as a case of putting   
   sentimentality before scientific rigor.   
      
   But a new book argues that, when it comes to dogs, the word is   
   necessary to understanding what has made the relationship between   
   humans and our best friends one of the most significant interspecies   
   partnerships in history.   
   ...   
   ...   
   One of the most striking advances comes from studies regarding   
   oxytocin, a brain chemical that cements emotional bonds between   
   people, but which is, according to new evidence, also responsible for   
   interspecies relationships between dogs and humans.   
      
   Recent research led by Takefumi Kikusui at Japan's Azabu University   
   has shown that levels of the chemical spike when humans and their dogs   
   gaze into each others' eyes, mirroring an effect observed between   
   mothers and babies.   
      
   In genetics, UCLA geneticist Bridgett vonHoldt made a surprising   
   discovery in 2009: Dogs have a mutation in the gene responsible for   
   Williams syndrome in humans—a condition characterized by intellectual   
   limitations and exceptional gregariousness.   
      
   "The essential thing about dogs, as for people with Williams syndrome,   
   is a desire to form close connections, to have warm personal   
   relationships—to love and be loved," writes Wynne.   
   ...   
   ...   
   ...   
      
   https://phys.org/news/2020-02-dogs-special-science.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)