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Science and technology. 科技。 Animal cognition 动物的认知 Man's best friend 人类的挚友 Can dogs really show empathy towards humans? 狗真的能感受人类的情绪吗？ DOGS quickly become part of the family. Tales abound of dogs celebrating joy in a household or commiserating when tragedy strikes. This may not seem surprising after 15,000 years of co-evolution. But what hard evidence is there of dogs' empathy with humans? A new experiment suggests that behind all the waggy tails there really is something deeper going on. 狗很快成了人类家庭中的一员，它们庆祝家庭喜事，怜悯悲剧的发生，这种故事屡见不鲜。在人类与狗共同进化了一万五千年之后，这点或许并不稀奇。但有没有确凿的证据能够证明狗能体会人类的感受呢？最近一项新的实验表明，狗狗背后的确隐藏着更深的含义。 Past experiments have hinted that animals can feel sympathy. Rats and monkeys had been found to forgo food to avoid delivering electric shocks to relatives. Similarly, apes have recently been documented consoling one another after conflicts. However, all these experiments and observations were demonstrating an animal's sensitivity to distress in other members of the same species. Deborah Custance and Jennifer Mayer of Goldsmiths College, London, set out to see if dogs could detect the emotional state of humans. | 
