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You're listening to Brainson from MPR News and Southern California Public Radio.

I'm Molly Bloom. We're serious about being curious. And actually, we're going to start with

a mystery sound of sorts. What does this sound mean to you?

Ah!

If you guessed cuteness, you're absolutely right. That is me and my colleague,

John Collins, looking at cute pictures of puppies. They're so cute little puppies.

And we need to thank these listeners for writing in with a question that allowed us to look at

really cute pictures on the internet all week. Totally as research, by the way.

Hi, my name is Samuel, and my name is Adrian. And we are from Juan Adios Puerto Rico.

And our question is, why do people find cute things cute?

Excellent question, Samuel and Adrian. We all know cute things when we see them.

But why do we react to a baby that way?

Hey, hey.

And not a grown-up.

Goo-goo-gaga.

Or a kitten. But not a flower.

The answer seems to be an evolutionary biology.

That psychologist, Dr. Sandra Pimentel.

And she explained that the reason we find some things cute and not others

...