One way how cats train us humans ...

I'm kicking myself for missing this before, but last July Scientific American had a delightful post on their "60-Second Science" blog about a research study into the sounds cats make. The research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology. From the SciAm post:

To understand just how cats vocally manipulate owners, including herself, McComb and her team set up a series of experiments. First they recorded the purrs of 10 cats; some were recorded when a cat was actively soliciting food and others in a non-solicitation setting. Fifty people then listened to the sounds at the same volume. Individuals judged pleading purrs as more urgent and less pleasant than normal purrs. When the researchers played the purrs re-synthesized to exclude the hungry cries, leaving all else the same, the volunteers perceived the purrs as far less urgent.

McComb suggests that cats may be cashing in on human's naturally nurturing response to a baby’s cry. Previous studies have shown the cat’s embedded cry shares a similar frequency.

Hey, cats aren't dumb! And cat lovers understand the joy that comes with taking care of what our feline friends need from us.