Here's a familiar story. You're sitting at the dinner table with your dog. You know you shouldn't give dogs human food, but when you look down, those cute puppy eyes are almost impossible to refuse.
Why does this kind of thing happen? A new study by Japanese scientist, Miho Nagasawa, seems to have found the answer, and it has to do with something called "the cuddle chemical" (拥抱化合物).
In order to better understand how the cuddle chemical works between dogs and humans, Nagasawa and his team conducted an experiment. They tested the levels of the cuddle chemical in dogs and humans, and then put them in a room to interact (互动) with each other.
While in the room, the humans patted the dogs, spoke to the dogs, and looked into the dogs' eyes. Then the scientists tested their levels of the cuddle chemical again.
The researchers found that the levels of the cuddle chemical were higher in both humans and dogs after they had interacted. However, the levels were the highest in the humans and dogs that had simply looked into each other's eyes, without much patting or talking.
The results of this study can also tell us a lot about the history of the bond (关系) between humans and dogs.
It all started tens of thousands of years ago. Wolves used to follow humans when they were hunting. Humans realized that they could use the wolves to help with the hunt, and eventually, both species began to work together toward survival.
Over time, the wolves and humans started to depend on each other. And they started to bond with each other These changes are what caused some of the wolves to turn into what we now know as dogs.
This process depended a great deal on the bond that humans formed with them. And according to Nagasawa's study, the bond was formed with the help of the cuddle chemical.
