This Just In

A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week’s most talked-about studies:

1 THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU AFFECT YOUR ATTRACTIVENESS

A study in the journal Psychological Science found that people’s rankings on an attractiveness scale increased as they were viewed alongside an increasingly unattractive face.

2 DOGS MAY LEARN MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN CHILDREN

Yale researchers who taught dogs how to open a box containing food found that a significant number of dogs learned to skip the unnecessary lever step in four trials, suggesting they’re more likely than children to disregard instructions that aren’t needed to solve a task at hand.

3 CAFFEINE MIGHT PREVENT DEMENTIA

A 10-year study in Journals of Gerontology, Series A, found that for women 65 and older, caffeine consumption above 261 mg–at least two to three cups of coffee per day–was associated with a 36% reduction in the risk of dementia.

–J.Z.