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Small, but mighty: How cuteness has taken over the world.
小但强大：可爱是如何征服世界的
Scroll through any social-media feed, and before long a cute video will appear. Perhaps it shows a giggling baby or a rabbit nibbling strawberries.
滑动浏览任何社交媒体推送，很快就会出现一段可爱的视频。也许是一个咯咯笑的婴儿，也许是一只兔子在啃草莓。
A red panda might be throwing its paws in the air, like a furry thief being apprehended, or a kitten may sit astride a tiny motorcycle.
也许是一只小熊猫把爪子伸向空中，就像一个毛茸茸的小偷被逮捕一样，又也许是一只小猫跨坐在小摩托车上。
The supply of these endearing clips is huge. On TikTok there are 65m videos tagged #cute. The demand is even greater: those videos have been viewed more than 625bn times.
这些可爱视频的供应量是巨大的。在TikTok上，有6500万个视频带了“可爱”标签。对这些视频的需求甚至更大：观看量已超过6250亿次。
What do humans consider cute?
人类认为什么是可爱的？
In the 1940s Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist, found that people are drawn to babies with big eyes, a small nose and mouth and round cheeks, as well as a pudgy body, short arms and legs and a wobbly gait.
在20世纪40年代，奥地利动物学家康拉德·洛伦茨发现，人们会被婴儿吸引，婴儿有大眼睛、小鼻子和小嘴巴、圆圆的脸颊、胖乎乎的身体、短短的胳膊和腿以及摇摇晃晃的步态。
These traits motivated people to nurture and protect babies, helping ensure their survival.
这些特点促使人们去养育和保护婴儿，确保婴儿存活下来。
Humans are so drawn to these attributes that cats and dogs may have been bred to emphasise those same features.
这些特点对人类有极大的吸引力，以至于小猫和小狗在育种的时候都强调这些同样的特征。
Cartoon characters have morphed, too. For instance, Mickey Mouse's arms, legs and nose have shrunk since 1928, while his head and eyes have become larger.
卡通形象也发生了变化。例如，自1928年以来，米老鼠的胳膊、腿和鼻子都缩小了，而它的头和眼睛却变大了。
A study from 2015 found that participants felt more energetic and positive, and less annoyed, anxious or sad, after watching cat videos.
2015年的一项研究发现，参与者在观看猫咪视频后感觉精力更充沛、心态更积极，烦恼、焦虑或悲伤的情绪更少。
Morten Kringelbach, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, has studied the brain’s rapid reaction to baby faces: the orbitofrontal cortex—a region linked with pleasure, among other things—is activated within a seventh of a second.
牛津大学神经学家莫滕·克林格尔巴赫研究了大脑对婴儿脸庞的快速反应：眼眶前额叶皮质（与愉悦等情绪相关的区域）在看到婴儿脸庞的七分之一秒内被激活。
(Men and women are equally eager to look at adorable infants.)
(男性和女性渴望看到可爱婴儿的程度是一样的。）
Cuteness has real-world uses. Lovot, a doe-eyed companion robot with a button nose, is covered in sensors and responds positively when cuddled.
可爱在现实世界中是有用处的。Lovot是一个有着大眼睛和纽扣鼻子的陪伴型机器人，它身上覆盖着传感器，人们拥抱它时会做出积极的回应。
Such innovations may help combat loneliness among the elderly. Policymakers, too, might harness the power of cute to nudge people’s behaviour.
这些创新可能有助于老年人对抗孤独感。政策制定者也可能利用可爱的力量来引导人们的行为。
Japan’s kawaii barriers are thought to reduce road-rage incidents. Putting images on bins of sea turtles or dolphins trapped in rubbish has been shown to reduce plastic waste.
日本的可爱风格路障被认为可以减少路怒事件。在垃圾箱上放一些被困在垃圾中的海龟或海豚的图片可以减少塑料垃圾。
Mr Kringelbach says that cute babies can encourage people to have empathy for demonised groups such as refugees.
克林格尔巴赫表示，可爱的婴儿可以促使人们对难民等被妖魔化的群体产生共情。
An appreciation for cute things is a joy in and of itself, but it also “has the potential to change the world”, he argues. How’s that for a cute idea?
他认为，欣赏可爱的东西本身就是一种享受，但这种行为也“具有改变世界的潜力”。这个主意也很可爱吧？
