Science News: Study finds dogs' personality traits influence their TV viewing behavior

Study finds dogs' personality traits influence their TV viewing behavior

Factors like age, breed, and prior TV exposure do not significantly affect how dogs engage with television.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, July 20.2025

https://www.jpost.com/science/article-861606

Study finds dogs' personality traits influence their TV viewing behavior. Illustration. (photo credit: Pixel-Shot. Via Shutterstock)

Researchers at Auburn University shed new light on how dogs' personalities influence their reactions to television, revealing that traits like excitability and anxiety determine how canines engage with on-screen content. The study, published recently in the journal Scientific Reports, is the first to investigate dogs' behavior in front of the television.

Led by Professor Jeffrey Katz, the research team conducted a study involving 453 dogs to explore the relationship between canine personalities and their TV viewing habits. The team also surveyed 650 dog owners to develop a Dog Television Viewing Scale (DTVS) to capture canine habits. The researchers analyzed the personality and TV viewing behavior of the dogs, with owners affirming that their pets watch TV. Of the 453 dogs studied, 300 represented American Kennel Club-recognized breeds, while 153 were mixed or non-AKC breeds.

The study found that dogs are generally more likely to react to seeing or hearing animals on-screen than to other stimuli. Nearly half of the dogs, about 45 percent, consistently reacted to canine sounds such as barking or howling on TV. Dogs described as "excitable" by their owners were more likely to track objects on the screen as if they were real. "Excitable dogs are more likely to react to objects on the TV screen," the researchers noted. "Owners who rated their dogs as more excitable were more likely to report their dogs attempting to follow objects or animals off-screen."

Conversely, dogs with anxious or fearful temperaments tended to respond more to non-animal sounds, such as doorbells or car horns. "Owners who described their pets as negatively reactive (more fearful or anxious) were significantly more likely to report that their dog responds to non-animal stimuli at higher rates," the study found. The researchers observed that some dogs respond more to sound stimuli like a car horn, and fearful or anxious dogs are more likely to react to non-animal stimuli.

The team acknowledged that factors like age, breed, and prior TV exposure are not drivers of dogs' television behavior. "Demographic characteristics such as age, sex, and breed do not influence dogs' TV-viewing behavior, nor does prior TV exposure," they reported. However, older dogs seemed less likely to frequently engage with television but were just as likely to pay attention to it as younger dogs. This supports the hypothesis that older dogs would attend to television stimuli less due to greater experience.

The insights gleaned from the study could help owners understand how to target training to eliminate problem behaviors or help them be more aware of which shows may be causing their pets stress. "Such research can help fine-tune training and expand enrichment options for dogs," the researchers stated, "contributing to best practices for using TV to enhance the lives of companion dogs and inform welfare interventions."

Lane Montgomery, a doctoral candidate at Auburn University who focuses on the behavior and cognition of dogs to improve companion dog welfare and working dog efficiency, was part of the research team. "A dog's interactions with televisions can be both positive and negative," Montgomery said. "By knowing what types of television programming dogs respond to, dog television programming can be refined to what dogs are most likely to enjoy."

The study also noted that the number of dog-specific TV programs has increased in recent years, and dogs are being exposed to forms of media more frequently. Despite the rise in dog-centered TV programs, whether a dog enjoys watching TV depends on the dog's temperament and the content being played. Understanding these factors is crucial, especially since television offers dogs a unique sensory experience.

"Television offers dogs a unique sensory experience, providing mental stimulation through high contrast colors, animal content, nature sounds, and movement, which can lead to enriching experiences or stress," the researchers noted. Depending on how dogs perceive images and sounds on TV, it can enrich their day with mental stimulation or introduce stressors.

In shelters, added mental stimulation from TV could be beneficial for dogs. The findings suggest that TV could offer enrichment for dogs, whether at home or in shelters.

Dogs have television show preferences: study

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Space News: NASA repairs Juno space probe camera from 600 million kilometers away

 

NASA repairs Juno space probe camera from 600 million kilometers away

Jupiter and Earth were near their closest all year, but it still took over half an hour for a signal to go from Earth to the probe or vice-versa.

By Ami Graber, Jerusalem Post, July 22, 2025

https://www.jpost.com/science/space/article-861879

The north polar region of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno during the spacecraft’s 57th close pass of the gas giant on Dec. 30, 2023. (photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt)

NASA unveiled their efforts to save the camera known as JunoCam on the Juno space probe orbiting Jupiter. During the presentation on July 16, they revealed the operations done in December of 2023 to keep the camera alive, despite damage done by radiation.

Juno is a NASA-owned space probe sent to orbit Jupiter to discover the planet’s origin and evolution. It has measured many of Jupiter’s elements, including its composition, gravitational field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Notable achievements of the Juno probe include the detection of the most intense volcanic eruption on Jupiter’s moon Io, capturing an image of a lightning strike near Jupiter’s pole, and taking the first close-up picture of the moon Europa in over 20 years.

Radiation Damage

The probe’s camera, JunoCam, despite being created to sustain only eight orbits, is still operational mid orbit 76. The machine, however, hasn’t made it out unscathed. At least three times the camera has shown signs of significant radiation damage, but the Juno team managed to fix the issue each time, despite being upwards of 615 million kilometers away.

In space, radiation takes the form of high-energy particles that move at speeds near the speed of light. These particles can come from the sun or cosmic rays from outside our solar system, and they can get trapped within strong magnetic fields. Large swathes exist in dangerous radiation belts around Jupiter due to the planet's strong magnetic field. This puts the Juno probe directly in the path of this radiation, which can cause damage to electronics and corrupt any data it holds.

Juno was created with a special vault lined with titanium to protect hardware inside from radiation. This was made to hold critical components for the mission, such as sensitive science equipment and the spacecraft’s systems. JunoCam, which was later repurposed for research purposes, was initially intended solely for public outreach of the mission, and it therefore was not placed within the radiation vault. This means it has been continuously exposed to all of the radiation within the radiation belts around Jupiter.

                               Jupiter’s Great Red Spot as captured by the JunoCam. (credit: NASA)

The camera survived its primary mission, the first 34 orbits, without any signs of damage. Image corruption due to radiation, however, became noticeable around orbit 47. The team knew that the corruption was likely due to radiation, but how it was damaged specifically could only be speculated.

There weren’t many options and the team had to think quickly.

Solving the Problem

“We commanded JunoCam’s one heater to raise the camera’s temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit — much warmer than typical for JunoCam,” said Jacob Schaffner, JunoCam imaging engineer. They attempted a process called annealing, where for an amount of time a material is heated before cooled slowly. The goal is to have the heating potentially remove defects, and for the orbits following the annealing process of JunoCam, it began producing images lacking the radiation corruption. The Juno spacecraft continued to fly through the radiation belts and by orbits 55 and 56 the corruption was back- and worse.

“We commanded JunoCam’s one heater to raise the camera’s temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit — much warmer than typical for JunoCam,” said Jacob Schaffner, JunoCam imaging engineer. They attempted a process called annealing, where for an amount of time a material is heated before cooled slowly. The goal is to have the heating potentially remove defects, and for the orbits following the annealing process of JunoCam, it began producing images lacking the radiation corruption. The Juno spacecraft continued to fly through the radiation belts and by orbits 55 and 56 the corruption was back- and worse.

To make matters worse, by orbit 57 the probe was going to do a flyby of Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. The team wanted JunoCam operating by then to take photos during the pass. After exhausting all other options, the team turned once again to the annealing process, raising the temperature to a more extreme degree than before.

The first week, test images showed no improvement despite the annealing. Finally, cutting it close to the Io flyby, the images began to clear of corruption.

Impact

Now, the Juno team has further used the annealing process on the Juno spacecraft, annealing JunoCam and other instruments. They successfully pulled off a fix of the JunoCam millions of kilometers away from the issue. Jupiter and Earth were near their closest all year, but it still took over half an hour for a signal to go from Earth to the probe or vice-versa.

Juno has continued to orbit Jupiter and is currently on its 76th and final orbit of the planet. JunoCam is still operating because of the Juno team’s quick thinking and problem solving skills. The Juno team’s success was not just a success for their mission and for the exploration of Jupiter. They made a great step forward for the technology of radiation protection and repair that come with space travel. The JunoCam captures snapshots of both Jupiter and the future of space travel.

NASA Repairs JunoCam: How Engineers Fixed a Camera 600 Million Kilometers from Earth

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Archaeology News: Mummy research unveils Ötzi the Iceman's unexpected ancestry

 

Mummy research unveils Ötzi the Iceman's unexpected ancestry

Analysis reveals Copper Age communities were patrilineal, with diverse maternal lineages suggesting women married into male groups.

By Jerusalem Post Staff, July 21, 2025

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-861700

A reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman. (photo credit: Kennis © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology)

A new study of ancient DNA has reveals that Ötzi the Iceman, a mummified individual dating back over 5,300 years, may have descended from a different ethnic group than his Alpine neighbors, indicating he may have been a representative of a distinct agricultural community. The findings, published recently in the journal Nature Communications, shed new light on the enigmatic origins of one of Europe's most famous prehistoric humans.

Scientists from the Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy, analyzed the genomes of 47 individuals who lived in the Tyrolean Alps from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (6400-1300 BCE), including 15 new samples from the Copper Age. Their research aimed to investigate whether Ötzi's contemporaries had similar genetic ancestry or differed significantly.

"Our analyses suggest that the Iceman, compared to other individuals of the same period, comes from a different group of farmers," said Valentina Coia, a researcher at the Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy, according to Live Science. "But this can only be discovered if we have more data on Neolithic individuals from Anatolia and northern Italy."

The study found that while most of these prehistoric Alpine inhabitants shared a homogeneous genomic structure, especially along the paternal line, Ötzi's genetic profile stood out as distinct. Almost all the men among the analyzed individuals had a Y chromosome prevalent among prehistoric populations of Germany and France, suggesting a close-knit male lineage in the region.

In contrast, Ötzi's paternal lineage was rare and more widely distributed compared to the similar paternal lineages of the prehistoric Alpine men. Additionally, his maternal lineage has never been identified in other ancient or modern individuals, which may indicate its extinction.

"But when looking more closely at the DNA to understand lineages, we were able to compare the results with those of the Iceman and found that it differs from the other Alpine samples in the area," Coia explained, according to Live Science. This divergence suggests that Ötzi may have originated from a different wave of farmers' migrations, distinct from those that settled in the Alps.

The researchers noted that the genomic structure of these ancient inhabitants was homogeneous, especially on the paternal line, while their maternal lineages were diverse. This pattern suggests that women may have been marrying into a close-knit group of men, leading to high uniformity of Y chromosomes alongside diversity in mitochondrial DNA.

"The diversity in mitochondrial DNA suggests that women came from outside, entering the community through marriage," Coia said. "Copper Age communities may have been organized in a patrilineal manner, around male lineages."

Both Ötzi and his neighbors likely had brown eyes associated with dark brown to black hair color. "These [people] likely had brown eyes associated with dark brown to black hair colour (similarly to the Iceman)," the researchers wrote, according to Live Science.

The study found that most ancient inhabitants of the region had a high proportion of Anatolian agricultural ancestry—approximately 80-90%—and a low proportion of hunter-gatherer ancestry. This high level of farmer ancestry was also observed in Ötzi, who previous studies suggested had "unusually high Anatolian farmer ancestry."

However, despite these similarities in overall ancestry, Ötzi differed from his Alpine peers in his paternal and maternal lineages. "Perhaps the Iceman, compared to other individuals of the same period, comes from a different group of farmers," Coia speculated. "Without further data from the Neolithic period from Anatolia and northern Italy, a definitive interpretation is difficult."

Ötzi's mummified and frozen corpse was discovered by tourists in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy. Murdered over 5,300 years ago under unknown circumstances, Ötzi remains one of prehistoric Europe's most enigmatic figures, continuing to intrigue scientists and the public alike.

Prior to this study, only two genomes of Copper Age people from the eastern Italian Alps had been analyzed. The addition of 15 new genomes from Ötzi's neighbors is improving researchers' understanding of the lives of people who lived in this cold, high-altitude region.

"Ötzi may have originated from a completely different genetic circle," Coia suggested. Further research and more genetic data from Neolithic individuals in Anatolia and northern Italy may be needed to fully unravel the mysteries surrounding Ötzi's unique ancestry.

Written with the help of a news-analysis system.

Stunning DNA Discoveries About Ötzi the Iceman That Shocked Scientists (Ancestors & Extinction)

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Space News: Scientists detect the most massive black hole merger ever observed

 

Scientists detect the most massive black hole merger ever observed

Professor Mark Hannam stated, 'These are the largest black holes we have confidently measured using gravitational waves.'

By Jerusalem Post Staff, July 15, 2025

https://www.jpost.com/science/article-861077

Scientists detect the most massive black hole merger ever observed. (photo credit: Caltech-LIGO)

Scientists have detected the most massive black hole merger ever recorded, located over 10 billion light-years away from Earth. On November 23, 2023, gravitational waves from the event, known as GW231123, reached Earth, with detectors capturing signals of the colossal collision, according to Space.com.

The merger, observed by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaboration, involved two black holes with masses of approximately 103 and 137 times that of the Sun, making them the heaviest black holes reliably recorded. The black holes finally collided to form a single, larger black hole, estimated to be about 265 times greater than the mass of the Sun, making it the most massive black hole produced in a merger detected in gravitational waves.

"These are the largest black holes we have confidently measured using gravitational waves," said Professor Mark Hannam, noting the unusual mass range of these black holes, according to Space.com. He added, "This is the largest black hole pair we have ever observed with gravitational waves, and it is a serious challenge to our understanding of black hole formation."

The gravitational wave signal, GW231123, lasted only 0.1 seconds, making it challenging for scientists to interpret the data, especially due to the high rotation speeds of the black holes involved. The two black holes were spinning at extreme speeds, with the larger black hole spinning at 90 percent of its maximum possible speed and the other at 80 percent, as reported by The Indian Express.

Researchers believe that the merged black holes in the GW231123 event are products of previous mergers, which explains their large mass and rapid spin. Such a scenario suggests a hierarchical formation process, where smaller black holes merge to form larger ones, which then continue to combine in densely populated stellar environments.

"These black holes fall into a mass gap that challenges conventional wisdom on how black holes form," noted the research team. According to current stellar evolution models, black holes of this size should not form directly from collapsing stars due to a phenomenon known as pair-instability supernova, which prevents the formation of black holes between 60 and 130 solar masses.

Hannam explained that such large black holes cannot be accounted for by standard models. "But for really massive stars, our theories say that the collapse is unstable, and most of the mass is blasted away in supernova explosions, and a black hole cannot form," he said, according to Live Science. "We don't expect black holes to form between about 60 and 130 times the mass of the Sun."

The high mass and rapid spin of the black holes have pushed the limits of gravitational-wave detection technology, making the signal much more difficult to interpret. "That makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It's an excellent case study for pushing forward the development of our theoretical tools," said Charlie Hoy, a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration at the University of Portsmouth, according to Futurism.

The detection demonstrates the capabilities of the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA network in capturing such extreme cosmic events. Since its first observing run in 2015, the collaboration has detected over 300 black hole mergers, including more than 200 in the fourth observational cycle alone. Each discovery provides valuable insights into the nature of black holes and the workings of the universe.

The GW231123 event also underscores the importance of continued advancements in gravitational-wave astronomy. "The detectors we are planning for the next 10 to 15 years will be able to see all the black hole mergers in the universe, and perhaps some surprises we didn't expect," Hannam remarked.

Scientists are particularly interested in the rotation speeds of the black holes in GW231123, as they are close to the maximum possible allowed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This may help determine whether black holes are more likely to collide and merge in certain astrophysical environments.

"This event pushes our instrumentation and data-analysis capabilities to the edge of what's currently possible," said Sophie Bini, an LVK member and researcher at the California Institute of Technology, according to Space.com. "It's a powerful example of how much we can learn from gravitational-wave astronomy—and how much more there is to uncover."

The signal's brief duration and complexity present a unique challenge to scientists. "It will take years for the community to fully unravel this intricate signal pattern and all its implications," noted Gregorio Carullo, an LVK team member from the University of Birmingham.

The record-breaking merger not only provides a wealth of data for scientists to analyze but also prompts a reevaluation of existing theories. The discovery may help refine models of black hole formation and evolution, potentially opening new directions in theories of gravity, astrophysics, and cosmology.

Researchers are continuing to refine their analysis and improve the models used to interpret such extreme events. As more observations of similar high-spin mergers are made, scientists hope to better understand the processes that lead to the formation of massive black holes like those observed in GW231123.

"This is just the beginning," Hannam said. "Usually, what happens in science is that when you look at the universe in a different way, you discover things you weren't expecting, and your whole picture transforms."

this article was assisted by a news-analysis system.

A team of scientists has just discovered a massive black hole collision that is leaving the entire scientific community stunned!

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