The why of puppy dog eyes, and measuring honesty on a global scale

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News, News Commentary, Science

4.3 • 842 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2019

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How can you resist puppy dog eyes? This sweet, soulful look might very well have been bred into canines by their intended victims—humans. Online News Editor David Grimm talks with host Meagan Cantwell about a new study on the evolution of this endearing facial maneuver. David also talks about what diseased dog spines can tell us about early domestication—were these marks of hard work or a gentler old age for our doggy domestics? Also this week, host Sarah Crespi talks with Michel Marechal of the University of Zurich in Switzerland about honesty around the globe. By tracking about 17,000 wallets left at hotels, post offices, and banks, his team found that we humans are a lot more honest than either economic models or our own intuitions give us credit for. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Ads on the show: MagellanTV Download a transcript (PDF) Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image: Molly Marshall/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,
0:04.0	the academic arm of the Mount Sinai health system in New York City,
0:07.5	and one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:10.7	What are scientists and clinicians working on to improve medical care and health for women?
0:15.5	Find out in a special supplement to Science magazine prepared by the Icon School of Medicine
0:20.0	and Mount Sinai in partnership
0:21.6	with science. Visit our website at www.science.org and search for Frontiers of Medical
0:27.5	Research-Women's Health. The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we find a way.
0:43.3	Welcome to the Science Podcast for June 21st, 2019. I'm Sarah Crespi.
0:45.3	In this week's show, we start with online news editor, David Grimm.
0:49.3	He talks with Megan Cantwell about what puppy dog eyes and decrepit spines mean about the history of dog domestication.
0:57.8	And I talk with Michelle Marischal about a global study of honesty that used 17,000 lost
1:05.3	wallets. I'm Megan Cantwell, and I'm here with David Grimm, online news editor, Science, to talk about two
1:14.5	stories he wrote this week on dog domestication. Thanks for joining me, Dave. Thanks, Megan.
1:19.0	So let's start with the origins of puppy dog eyes. When we say puppy dog eyes, these are kind of these
1:24.2	big, sad eyes that dogs give us. It kind of makes you want to
1:27.6	like either hug your dog or give your dog a treat. It's a very expressive face. And the
1:33.1	question is, how did dogs develop this face? We don't really see this very much in wolves. And so it
1:37.6	must be something particular to dogs. Why are some dogs able to make these innocent looking
1:42.5	faces? What researchers did in this new study, it's a little bit morbid, but they took the remains
1:47.0	of a few wolves and a few dogs and they dissected their face.
1:50.0	And they were looking for a couple of muscles.
	...

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