DOGS lOVE YOU AS MUCH AS YOU lOVE THEM

Your dog loves you as much as you love it, researchers confirmed in a study that looked inside the brain of our canine friends using imaging technology. Not only do dogs seem to love their owners back, they also see them as their family, the researchers found. “Bonding with owners is much more important for dogs than other pets,” lead author of the study, Attila Andics said. The study used neuroimaging to study odour processing in the canine brain. And of all the smells the dogs smelled during the MRI, it was only the scent of their owners that triggered activity in the caudate nucleus of the brain — otherwise known as the “reward centre”. Dogs actually prioritised the scent of humans above everything else, the study noted.

BOOST BRAIN WITH FAST AND EXERCISE

While exercise has innumerable health benefits, fasting appears to be catching up slowly and more so, with regard to giving your brains a boost. Exercise along with occasional fasting is good for boosting the brain’s neurons, shows a new research. The research on animals showed how intermittent fasting in rats and mice can enhance learning and memory and decrease the risk of degeneration of those brain functions. “We’ve evidence that exercise and probably intermittent fasting increase the number of mitochondria in neurons,” said Mark Mattson, neuroscientist, National Institute on Aging in the US. Intermittent fasting may improve performance on cognitive tests and change neural network connections.

HAND DRYERS ARE HOTBED FOR GERMS

Modern hand dryers spread far more germs than paper towels, according to new University of leeds research. Airborne germ counts were 27 times higher around jet air dryers compared to the air around paper towel dispensers, said the scientists. “When you dry your hands in a public toilet using an electric hand dryer, you may be spreading bacteria. You may also be splattered with ‘bugs’ from other people’s hands,” said Mark Wilcox, professor at the University of leeds. For the study, the team contaminated hands with a harmless type of bacteria called lactobacillus, which isn’t normally found in public bathrooms. This was done to mimic hands that have been poorly washed. Subsequent detection of lactobacilli in the air proved that it must have come from the hands during drying.