Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. If you're a curious human being, the kind that is likely to click on an article about cognition, you've seen the fads come and go over the years, many of them related to brain "enhancement."

Dog-owners often feel that their pooches are good at picking up on their emotions. New studies show how behavioral and chemical cues from humans can affect dogs in ways that enable them to not only discriminate between their owners' fear, excitement, or anger, but also to "catch" these feelings from their human companions. Just as human toddlers look to their parents for cues about how to react to the people and world around them, dogs often look to humans for similar signs. When their people project feelings of calm and confidence, dogs tend to view their surroundings as safe and secure. "The emotional connection between humans and dogs is the essence of the relationship," says Clive Wynne, a professor of psychology and director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University.

There are a plethora of AI initiatives in progress across the healthcare industry. From drug discovery to thermal scans, AI has transformed this sector significantly over the past decade. While we know AI's contributions to physical healthcare, AI is also easing mental health concerns too. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA)'s 2016 report on drug use and health, only 63% of adults identified as having had at least one major depressive episode reported receiving any kind of treatment. In the US alone, one in five adults suffers from a form of mental illness.

HoloAsh is developing an AI friend to reduce your stress.

For the last five years, IBM has strived to reinvent itself as a cloud computing and cognitive platform company to support its large enterprise clients as they shift their operations online, including many in travel and transportation. With most large companies today evolving into digital companies, cloud computing is a booming marketplace for the big four industry providers: IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Google, for example, stated that cloud could overtake advertising revenue in five years. Travel companies like Etihad and Lufthansa are helping drive IBM's cloud sales. The UAE carrier signed a 700 million IT deal with IBM last October, while Germany's national airline invested 1.25 billion in Big Blue in November 2014 to integrate cloud computing. Cognitive, on the other hand, is IBM's wild child savant compared to its older cloud sibling.