this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
735 points (94.8% liked)

Science Memes

16250 readers
2830 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Soot@hexbear.net 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

We have strong evidence to the contrary. Cats only meow to humans, not to other cats. So they know we're fundamentally different.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Kittens meow to their mothers.

But yeah, cats have evolved to meow in just the right tone that makes us go all “aww, I need to help this cute little varmint, even if it will scratch me for the effort”, so you've got a point there.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 13 hours ago

afaik it's not that cats have evolved to meow at us, it's much more simply that they notice that meowing is really effective at getting our attention, and if they happen to make other noises that catch our attention and help them get what they want, they'll also use those noises.

like, go watch the channel "lucy and stitch", Stitch consistently and almost exclusively makes little "eh" noises, it doesn't have to be meows.

[–] Nakoichi@hexbear.net 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Cats like being pet because the oils in our hands remove dust from their fur and we can scratch places they can't easily reach.

Also who doesn't like being pet?