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Dear Hailey,
Cats love attention, but we don’t get jealous like humans do. It’s one of those emotions that set human beings apart from other creatures in the animal kingdom. But I can’t imagine it’s the most pleasant. The poet William Shakespeare once called jealousy a green-eyed monster. Still, it’s an emotion that can help you navigate the world.
Read More ...Dear Diedrich,
Like most cats, I enjoy curling up for a quick snooze by my sunny office window. But I know that some people don’t love sleeping. They want to go go go without a break.
I talked about that with my friend Greg Belenky. He runs the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University’s Spokane campus.
He told me that we need to sleep. Without it, we can’t do basic or complex things.
“All you have to do is look at behavior,” he said. “Somebody who’s sleep deprived for 84 hours can hardly do anything. They’re docile and easily led. They … » More …
Read More ...Dear Susan,
Cats aren’t usually big veggie-eaters. But working with humans means that I get to taste all kinds of new delicacies—like Brussels sprouts.
I talked about food preferences with my friend Carolyn Ross. She’s a chemist and food scientist at Washington State University.
She told me that some people are extra sensitive to how foods taste. They’re called supertasters.
“Supertasters actually have more taste buds,” Ross said. “We’ve found that people who are supertasters are particularly sensitive to bitterness.”
Bitterness really strikes at a supertaster’s fungiform papillae. Those are the mushroom-shaped lumps on your tongue that house your taste buds. Because of … » More …
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