Summary
Zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explores the science behind our seeming obsession with all things adorable. There has been an explosion in interest in cuteness, particularly online, with an ever growing number of websites dedicated to pandas, kittens, puppies and of course babies. If you are feeling a bit down in the dumps, what better way to brighten your day then looking at some cute baby animal frolicking about. But what is it that makes these creatures so darn attractive to us and can you be addicted to cute? Lucy investigates the latest scientific research looking at just what makes babies cute, and what looking at them does to our brain, with some surprising results. She visits London Zoo to visit her number one cute creature of choice, the sloth, to find out why sloths hit the top of the cute charts, but the Chinese giant salamander definitely doesn't, and why in terms of conservation, that matters.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Seriously, I'm Femmy Martin. Now the internet has proven a few things about humankind, but has it proven anything |
| 0:15.7 | more conclusively than our overwhelming love of cats? Actually, we love all cute animals, pets and silly costumes, puppies playing with other puppies, |
| 0:27.1 | otters in bibs, we just can't get enough of the stuff. |
| 0:31.2 | In this edition of Seriously, zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cook gets to the science behind the power of cute. |
| 0:40.0 | He's playing with the bit of paper. |
| 0:41.0 | Oh, it's so cute. |
| 0:43.0 | But it's not, it's a pig. |
| 0:46.0 | Oh, tummy. |
| 0:47.0 | Oh, look at his face. |
| 0:49.0 | Have you ever had a sneaky peek at a micro pig to cheer up a dreary Wednesday at work. If so, you are by no means alone. |
| 0:57.0 | Oh, ginger pig! Look at his stripes! |
| 1:00.0 | Oh look at his troubles! |
| 1:01.0 | Oh, look at his troubles! Cuck! |
| 1:04.0 | Cuck! |
| 1:05.0 | Cuck! Cuck! |
| 1:08.0 | I feel as if my world has been engulfed |
| 1:10.0 | by a tsunami of pugs in party hats and kittens in teacups. |
| 1:14.3 | If you look at the media information, we are consuming more cute content than ever before. |
| 1:24.0 | With the advent of the internet, it has allowed us to tap into a primeval aspect'm to our brain. |
| 1:34.0 | I'm fascinated by the cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, |
| 1:36.0 | cute, cute, |
| 1:38.0 | cute, what is it doing to our brains, |
... |
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