Why do so many of us find babies, kittens and puppies so cute? How did the now-widespread Japanese notion of kawaii end up transcending cultural boundaries? And can cute things help us with our mental health?

To answer these questions and more, we catch up with Joshua Paul Dale, a professor of American literature and culture based at Chuo University in Tokyo.

He tells us all about his pioneering work in the field of cute studies and his new book Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World.
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Why we find cuteness so appealing

Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week.

New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra.

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From the time that we are first developing in the womb right through until we are in our old age, the food we eat has a huge impact on our health and wellbeing.

But exactly what should we be feeding our infants, how do the dietary choices we make as adolescents affect us later in life and how can we approach nutrition as we age to make sure we stay healthy for as long as possible?

In this episode I speak to Dr Federica Amati, a medical scientist and head nutritionist at the ZOE project.

We talk about the latest thinking on nutritional science she outlines in her book Every Body Should Know This: The Science of Eating for a Lifetime of Health.
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How making the right dietary choices can help to keep us healthy in every stage of our lives

Whether they’re triggered by looking through old family photographs, hearing a piece of music you haven’t heard for years or eating a favourite childhood snack, feelings of nostalgia often come flooding into our hearts and minds.

But what is going on in our brains when we have these feelings?

In this episode I catch up with writer and historian Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster a writer, author of the new book Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion.

She tells us how this intriguing emotion has gone from being thought of as a deadly disease to being used as a therapy to treat degenerative cognitive conditions.
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The psychology and neuroscience of nostalgia

We all forget things from time to time, it’s a normal part of everyday life. But according to the latest research in neuroscience, it is forgetting, not remembering that is the brain’s default action.

So why is this?

In this episode I speak to Prof Charan Ranganath, director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at UC Davis and author of the book Why We Remember: The Science of Memory and How it Shapes Us.

He tells us how memories form in our brains, how they are intimately linked to our emotions and imagination, and why we often walk into another room and forget why we went there in the first place.
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The neuroscience of remembering and forgetting

When it comes to thinking about sustainability, most of us usually keep our feet on the ground. But as we extend our reach beyond this small rocky planet and out into the solar system, is it time to think about how we use space sustainably too?
 
Our guest today is Aaron Boley, Associate Professor of astronomy and astrophysics at The University of British Columbia and co-author of Who Owns Space?: International Law, Astrophysics and the Sustainable development of space.
 
With hundreds of thousands of satellites planned for launch in the next few years, Aaron is warning that our orbital space is getting too crowded and could be heading for a dangerous point of no return.
 
Is there still time for us to learn from our mistakes down at ground level and build a sustainable future among the stars?
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Is our orbital space at breaking point?

There is little doubt that the advent of the computer has had one of the most far-reaching impacts of any invention in the history of mankind. These days, it’s difficult for most of us to imagine life without them. But building ever faster processors is becoming something of a challenge.

The solution to this could be quantum computers – machines so powerful they can tackle problems that would take even the biggest supercomputers we have today billions of years to solve.

In this episode I speak to Prof Winfried Hensinger, director of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies.

We talk about his work on creating the world’s first large-scale quantum computer, how it works, and how quantum computers could help scientists do everything from breaking complex forms of encryption to creating innovative new medicines.
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Why we find cuteness so appealing

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