Macaque mothers and infants engage in emotional interactions similar to those of human moms and their babies, a new study suggests. (p. 15)

Scientists are unveiling how the brain works when hypnotized (p. 26)

Man-made music inspired by tamarin calls seems to alter the primates’ emotions, a new study suggests. (p. 10)

A pair of new studies indicates that crows can employ tools in advanced ways, including using stones to displace water in a container and manipulating three sticks in sequence to reach food. (p. 5)

It started as a quiet dinner conversation, punctuated with laughter. Soon, the rapid-fire “ha-ha-has” took on the tone of gunfire. Convinced it was directed at him, the young man got up to confront the noisy diners. Naturally, the guests at the next table had no idea what the problem was. They were simply enjoying themselves and … laughing. Embarrassed by his outburst, the young man left the restaurant and never returned. By most accounts, laughter is good medicine, the best even. But for some, such as the embarrassed diner, a good-natured chuckle isn’t funny at all. Morbidly a... (p. 18)

A neural network active when the brain is at rest may prove critical to zoning out, a sense of self and envisioning the future. (p. 16)

Analyses of patterns incised on pieces of ancient pigment indicate that people in southern Africa passed along symbolic practices from 100,000 to 75,000 years ago, scientists say.

This is a phone conversation, so if Tom Seeley rolls his eyes, that’s his business. He’s a distinguished behavioral biologist, full professor at Cornell University, member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and so on. Yet he takes it pretty well when asked whether honeybees could have had a real estate crisis and crashed their banking system. Seeley, at least voice-wise, stays polite and treats this as a serious question. Which it is. Of course honeybees don’t have a banking system, but they do exhibit collective behavior. The queen bee doesn’t decide what the colony ... (p. 16)