My understanding is that cats purr both as an expression of happiness (like when petted) but also when sick, presumably for self comfort.<p>Both of my cats without fail will gravitate towards me or my gf when we are sick and sit on our chests and purr. it's very sweet.<p>I can produce a purring sounds in the very back of my throat but my gf can't no matter how much she tries/practices. I speak German natively and the purr is very similar to the sound of the letter "r" which I guess a lot of English speakers have trouble with.
Love the journal current biology. Extremely accessible yet thought provoking science.<p>It’s way more readable than the “broad audience” Cell, Nature, Science journals.
What do they mean by "neural input?" Do they mean a voluntary, willful mode of making the sound, as opposed to involuntary process, like breathing?
When considering its purpose, does anyone else find something distasteful (to put it much too politely) about the whole idea of this experiment?<p>And then there's this. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/neuralink-uc-davis-monkey-photos-videos-secret/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.wired.com/story/neuralink-uc-davis-monkey-photos...</a>
I can’t quite make out from the paper but did they just kill eight cats and remove their larynx for this experiment? Was it really worth doing that to determine this? I don’t think learning this was worth even eight cats dying and being mutilated if so. I’m from academia and science and I keep getting more disillusioned with the whole thing the longer I’m in it.