Science Magazine Podcast Building better working dogs, and watching a black hole form
Feb 12, 2026
Kishalay De, astrophysicist who tracked a star’s infrared wink in Andromeda, and David Grimm, science reporter who explores boosting success rates for service dogs. They discuss finding a stellar black hole’s birth through archival infrared searches. They also cover cognitive testing, breeding and genomic tools to predict which puppies will thrive in training.
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High Training Cost, Low Graduation Rates
- Training a service dog costs up to $50,000 and takes roughly two years, yet about half fail to graduate after huge investment.
- That low yield creates urgent pressure to improve early selection and job matching for service-dog programs.
Standardize Puppy Cognitive Testing
- Develop standardized cognitive test batteries to score puppies objectively on impulse control and social communication.
- Use those scores to decide who continues training and to suggest which job (hearing, PTSD, autism support) suits each dog.
Twizzler Demonstrates Human‑Directed Communication
- At Canine Companions David observed tests like a clear cylinder and impossible-task that reveal impulse control and human-directed communication.
- Twizzler the pup navigated the cylinder and looked to Emily Bray for help during the impossible-task, showing strong communicative behavior.