zoology, neuroscience

In Chapter 1, “The Science of Animal Dreams,” author David M. Peña-Guzmán relays the history of researchers digging into the mental realities of nonhuman brains.

Neurons in mosquito antennae can express more than one olfactory receptor at a time, a redundancy that likely ensures they don’t lose a potential host’s scent.

Research shows that humans aren’t the only animals whose imaginations run wild while they sleep.

In a citizen science project, thousands of pet dogs are helping scientists to understand what happens to memory and cognition in old age.

Bottlenose dolphins can recall trivial details of a prior event to later solve a novel task, a study finds, suggesting these mammals are capable of episodic memory.

The fish species is separated from mammals by hundreds of millions of years of evolution, yet its seemingly primitive brain can handle many of the same elaborate visual tasks.

And how do scientists go about answering that question?

Researchers report molecular evidence of traumatic brain injury in headbutting animals, but other experts aren’t convinced.

Like in humans, the neurotransmitter appears to play a role in generating wanting-like behavior and, perhaps, happy memories in honeybees.

See some of the coolest images recently featured by The Scientist

Scientists find that two species can be trained to distinguish quantities that vary by one.

Dampwood termites with the potential to leave the colony have larger optic lobes before ever being exposed to different visual environments, an example of predictive brain plasticity.

The size and complexity of cephalopod brain structures differ depending on the habitats the creatures occupy, a study finds.

Injecting oxygen-generating algae into tadpoles allows brain activity to continue in the absence of oxygen, researchers find.

Research in recent decades has explored how animals other than humans perceive different numbers of objects

The cephalopods resisted temptation for up to 130 seconds to earn their favorite food, hinting at sophisticated cognitive abilities such as planning for the future.