New research is providing evidence for what pet owners and animal lovers have long suspected: Dogs are remarkably good at reading human emotions.

• Why it matters: The findings offer clues about how living as human companions for thousands of years may have shaped dogs.

🧠 Zoom in: For the study, published recently in iScience, researchers scanned pups' brains while they looked at photos of human facial expressions portraying a range of feelings, including happiness, fear, sadness and anger.

• Dogs processed the faces just like humans do, focusing on eyes, noses and mouths, and their brains showed a distinct response to happy faces.

While smiles elicited the biggest response, dogs appeared to read the other emotions, too. And their brains didn't put all the negative feelings in the same bucket.

• Instead, brain activity differed depending on whether the pups were looking at a fearful, sad or angry face.

🔎 The intrigue: This study analyzed dogs' brain responses when they were looking at photos of strangers.

• Their reactions would likely be even stronger when observing their owners' faces, the study authors note.

💛 The money quote: "Humans are really good at picking up small details on the face, and so are dogs," study author Raúl Hernández-Pérez from the University of Vienna told the BBC.

The bottom line: Whether it's your dog or one you meet out and about, you're not the only one getting something out of saying hello.

Pic du jour from reader Josh Trent in Cheverly, Md.:

• "Fantastic morning 'greenbath' as the sun peeks through on the running trail."