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The article presents tips on improving memory including physical activity, taking regular breaks, and sleep.

Kids are often gifted books for Christmas, but the trick is to get them to read them! How to Speak Dog: a Guide to Decoding Dog Language by Aline Alexander Newman How to Speak Dog is a fantastic book about how to communicate with dogs. [Extracted from the article]

Evolution's random workings have a lot in common with that most elegant problem solver, the human brain. Kate Douglasreports

Can our knowledge of biology help us avoid another financial meltdown? Kate Douglasreports

Aboriginal Australian knowledge could be an effective weapon against wildfires, finds Kate Douglas

The article reports on a suite of characteristics that encapsulate human nature. These human universals or characteristics shared by all people everywhere were used to examine the human animal in the same way humans study any other. The article downplays what humans thought they knew what humans were like.

The article explores the idea of culture in humans and animals. It discusses the findings of Andrew Whiten of the University of St. Andrews and a team of luminaries on the local traditions of chimpanzees, such as construction and use of specific tools for termite fishing or cracking recalcitrant nuts. Carel van Schaik at the University of Zurich and colleagues were able to cataloged 24 cultural traditions in orang-utans in 2003, which ranged from the practice of making dolls from bundles of leaves to blowing of raspberries at each other before bedtime.

Is it really better out than in? Kate Douglashas the down-low on our most furtive habit

The author reflects on the attributes that account for human thinking. She stresses on the use of explicit/implicit, procedural/declarative, or automatic/controlled for distinction of thought processes. She also points out methods applied by director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging unit at INSERM Stanislas Dehaene for investigation on conscious/subconscious division of thinking analysis. Further, she reveals that subconscious thinking is the source of enhancing creativity in coping problems.

The article presents an overview of research into the reasons that human ancestors dispersed across the world. Topics include the possibility of overcrowding in the Horn of Africa caused by a population explosion, the effect of climate instability, and the role of cultural innovations such as complex tools, art, and ornamentation on migration. Other explanations are discussed such as the accidental misrouting of sea voyages and the existence of adventure-predisposing genetic mutations.

The article focuses on research into the origins of bipedalism in humans. Topics discussed include the evolution of a specialized tibia anatomy in tree-dwelling primates, the possible evolutionary survival benefits of bipedalism such as improved food access and predator avoidance, and the anatomical changes in hominids occurring 1.7 million years ago to enable walking in grassland savannas in order to adapt to heat and to travel greater distances.

The article discusses a report published in "Journal of Physical Chemistry" by chemists James Coe, Katherine Cilwa, and team regarding their assembly of a catalogue of dust. Researchers captured individual dust particles from the air and analysed them with infrared spectroscopy, finding primarily organic material, quartz, and carbonates. They argue that this library will beneficial for public health studies involving diseases caused by dust particles in the lungs.

The article reports on research by Andrew Hamilton and colleagues at the University of Melbourne, regarding the total number of species on Earth. Published in an issue of "American Naturalist," it is said to be an advance on the work of Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institute, who estimated in 1982 that some 30 million species exist. Hamilton is quoted opining that the number should be revised down, to roughly five and a half million.

The article presents suggestions to make life longer. Marian Diamond of the University of California, Berkeley, has found that playing bridge boosts the immune system. Her studies with lab rats even suggest that intellectual novelty promotes longevity: rodents given mazes to solve and toys to play with lived 50 percent longer. There is also plenty of evidence to indicate that the kind of excitement which one gets from traveling, learning a new language, completing a sudoku puzzle or creating own artistic masterpiece, which helps delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

This article focuses on the importance of positive attitude in life. Optimism improves the prospects of patients with heart conditions, and it increases chances of recovering from infectious diseases. Researchers from the Institute of Mental Health in Delft, the Netherlands, reported that older men with an optimistic outlook on life were only half as likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease over a 15-year period as those whose worldview was more negative, regardless of their initial state of health.

The article states that it is comforting to think of human intelligence as the pinnacle of evolution. But if one casts that anthropocentric snobbery to one side, one will know that intelligence is just another adaptation. It evolved because it is the best way to survive in a particular ecological niche. Intelligence is evolution's answer to unpredictability. If an organism lives in an environment that is predictable then it can get by on instinct and hard-wired responses. But animals that live in shifting environments need to be flexible, they need to be able to weigh up new situations and act accordingly. That is where intelligence can come in handy.

The article states that it is tempting to think that human beings have moved beyond clutches of evolution. But conclusion is wrong. Evolution is built on two cornerstones: heritable variation and selection. Plainly, humans vary. The source of that variation is genetic mutation, which still occurs at around the same rate today as it has throughout evolution. In the west one certainly seem to have wriggled free of natural selection. It is no longer just the fittest who survive and reproduce. Modern medicine allows people to overcome diseases and injuries that would once have killed them. Birth control and reproductive technology make reproduction a matter of choice, not adaptive quality. Likewise, the power of sexual selection has been blunted because the mass media has a strong influence on who one finds attractive.

Wild canids hardly ever use barking to communicate, while domestic dogs have a range of barks for different situations. Barking may tap into the same acoustical patterns used in human speech, meaning that one has a much greater innate understanding of dogs than of any other animal. Until very recently, animal behaviourists believed that dog barking was just random noise or an expression of excitement. That dogs bark more than their wild cousins was explained by the idea that domestication had preserved these puppy-like characteristics into adulthood.

We like to think that laughing is the height of human sophistication. Our big brains let us see the humour in a strategically positioned pun, an unexpected plot twist or a clever piece of word play. There is no doubt that laughing is a social activity. Robert Provine, a neuroscientist says that laughter evolved as a signal to others and it almost disappears when we are alone. New research lends weight to the idea that it does. The findings come from researcher Elke Zimmermann who compared the sounds made in response to tickling by babies and bonobos during the first year of their life. Using sound spectrographs to reveal the pitch and intensity of vocalisations, she discovered that bonobo and human baby laughter follows broadly the same pattern.

Explores the means of communications on lobsters. Engaging in a boxing-like match to send messages; Release of urine to send crucial messages that shape their social interactions; Unique marker contained in lobsters' urine by which they can identify and remember each other.

Reports on discoveries about the behavior and mating rituals of dolphins. Gangs of male dolphins which kidnap single females and use brute force to mate with them and keep them moving where they want; Gang warfare over the female, which can involve second-order alliances of two gangs against one; The sophistication of dolphin social life; The supergang, which is a less close relationship, but which gives near-certain victory in fights.