Orange Cat Lovers, Rise Up!

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Approximately 80% of orange cats are males, including the four orange cats owned by the Short Wave team. Scientists have long suspected that orange color was a sex-linked trait — hiding somewhere on the X chromosome. Now, scientists at Stanford University and Kyushu University in Japan have characterized the mutation responsible for orange cat coloration. Both groups published their results in the journal Cell Biology this week.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On the Code Switch podcast, 40 years ago, the Philadelphia Police Department carried out a bombing that destroyed a black neighborhood on live TV.
0:08.6	And yet the deadly events of that day have been largely forgotten.
0:11.7	There is now a historic marker because a group of middle school children were assigned to look at police brutality in their community.
0:21.5	Listen to the Code Switch podcast from the NPR network.
0:24.7	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:30.4	Hey, Short Waver is Regina Barbara here and Emily Kwong with our biweekly Science News Roundup featuring the host of all things considered Juana Summers.
0:38.6	Hi. So I am excited to be here because I've heard we've got a whole range today, starting with a story about all of our beloved orange cats.
0:45.4	Yes, we're going to talk about orange cats. Also a tech prototype for your bike that could help map safer routes.
0:51.7	And the connection between gum disease and heart problems.
0:54.8	All that on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
1:21.3	On the Code Switch podcast, 40 years ago, the Philadelphia Police Department carried out a bomb in that destroyed a black neighborhood on live TV.
1:24.6	And yet the deadly events of that day have been largely forgotten.
1:34.7	There is now a historic marker because a group of middle school children were assigned to look at police brutality in their community.
1:37.7	Listen to the Code Switch podcast from the NPR network.
1:42.3	All right, Wana, where do you want to begin? I have a guess.
1:44.3	I mean, there's no other place but orange cats.
1:49.7	Right. Totally. Yeah, the greatest cats of all time. That is a fact. According to my orange tabby,
2:01.0	Zuko. My blonde orange boy, Benny, also agrees, maybe not the other three cats. But our boss also has two orange cats, Tang and Dorito. Both of them are males too.
2:05.1	Guys, I have to tell you something. I also have an orange cat, and guess what? Also a boy.
2:14.0	Okay, this is perfect because approximately 80% of orange cats are males, and it's something researchers and cat enthusiasts have long notice.
2:19.2	Scientists suspected the reason may be that orange color is a sex-linked trait,
2:23.4	meaning the mutation responsible for that ginger hue is found on their sex chromosomes,
	...

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