Your dog remembers more than you might think. A new study that tested the memory of man's best friend found that dogs exhibit something akin to episodic memory -- a process that's been well documented in humans, but difficult to prove in other animals. In experiments, the dogs were able to recall human actions even when they weren't expecting to be tested on what they observed, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology. The findings show that episodic memory, thought to be linked to self-awareness, may extend well beyond humans to species outside of the primate lineage. Scientists have long wondered whether other animals have something like episodic memory, which allows us to recall specific past events even though they may not have been particularly important when they happened.

In research conducted in China, a rhesus monkey whose spinal cord was partially severed quickly regained lost control over his paralyzed leg after researchers implanted a signal-emitting electronic array below the site of the spinal injury. That pulse generator sent out electrical signals to the monkey's leg to move, and the monkey's affected leg responded as early as six days after his spinal cord was deliberately injured. The signals to move were commands collected from the motor cortex of unharmed rhesus monkeys as they freely walked and used their legs. Together, the two devices leaped over the broken connection between brain and limb, allowing the partially paralyzed monkey to mimic key walking motions. The brain-spine interface offers new hope that patients who have lost function due to spinal cord injury might be able to restore movement and prevent the degeneration of the neural wiring that is needed for an eventual return to movement.

The underwater lake, discovered 3,300 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, is a pit of super-salty water and dissolved methane that kills any critter unlucky enough to fall inside. The discovery was made last year by a San Pedro-based research vessel, the E/V Nautilus. In the video, scientists excitedly navigate a remotely operated vehicle, the Hercules, above the circular pool. They point out the "pickled crabs" that succumbed to the elements. "These larger organisms really don't like to be in this fluid -- or maybe they just come here to die," Scott Wankel, a marine chemist, says on the video.