For those of us who have friends or relatives recently becoming acquainted with the phenomenon of the internet, or just people in our lives who like to scan the latest meme trail, we might be frequently introduced to the latest cat video meme. Even if we have better things to do, it seems so hard to resist watching those things when we have the chance. What the… ? Why? On this week’s show, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke and host Rebecca McInroy discuss the riveting topic of cat videos. Essentially underlying the cat, or kitten video phenomenon, is our evolutionary instinct to fall in love with babies. Babies are really hard to care for. It’s a huge challenge. If we all knew the trouble involved, none of us would take much interest in reproducing. However, babies are also irresistibly adorable. Our ingenious genetic evolution has instilled in us an insatiable attraction to the cuteness of small, helpless baby creatures, of all species, not just humans. Hence, within the modern era of easy access to technology that allows us to record, publish and distribute whatever our little hearts desire, we often want to share cute videos of kittens. Or deer, or koalas, or sloths, or puppies, or human babies… Or tsunamis. Basically, anything that’s unusual and provokes an intense emotional response is compelling to watch and share. We’re at the beginning of this technological development, so in this stage, we’re too excited by the opportunity to enjoy the instinct gratification of the meme to let it pass us by. The memes are taking over the Internet…