A study shows that people who live in higher latitudes have larger eyes and more abilities to process visual information compared to those living on lower grounds. Researchers measured the eye sizes and brain capacity of 55 skulls dating from the 19th century preserved at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The skulls are from 12 different countries in the world such as native people from England, China, Australia, Kenya, Micronesia, and Scandinavia. According to the lead author of the study Ellie Pearce: “As you move away from the equator, there’s less and less light available, so humans have had to evolve bigger and bigger eyes.” She added that their brains need to be larger to deal with extra visual information. Having bigger brains does not mean they are less intelligent. It only means they need larger brain sizes to see well where they live. This indicates that people from Greenland and Kenya have the same ability to see details from higher ground, but those from lower areas need larger eyes and more brainpower to see things from below.

For centuries, many scientists have tried to research if animals have emotions. French philosopher René Descartes said in the seventeenth century that only humans possess emotions and consciousness, and thought animals were biological machines. Two hundred years later, Charles Darwin said that animals had mental abilities like humans but more limited. He also believed that animals have emotions like humans. On the internet, we see many pictures of animals smiling. Some scientists are unsure if animal smiles have the same meaning as human smiles. On the other hand, others believe that animals smile because they are happy. Many studies have shown that animals feel and show emotions in a way unique to them. For example, when a dog wags its tails and a cat purrs, it means it is happy. Aside from common emotions such as happiness and anger, animals also show emotions of sadness and gratitude.