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I noticed something weird about Disney Princesses lately. Naturally, I had to examine it through the lens of science. The answer led me to new knowledge about human development, the domestication and taming of animals, and why we find things cute in the first place. You’ll never look at cartoons the same way again

Siberian silver fox footage courtesy of Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut. Check out their book “How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)” to learn more, it’s great! https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/...

Skull reproductions courtesy of Boneclones: https://boneclones.com/

REFERENCES:

Gould, Stephen Jay “Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse” https://faculty.uca.edu/benw/biol4415...

Bogin, B. (1990). The evolution of human childhood. Bioscience, 40(1), 16-25.
PDF: http://bit.ly/2vDb3Vy

Somel, M., Franz, H., Yan, Z., Lorenc, A., Guo, S., Giger, T., ... & Webster, M. J. (2009). Transcriptional neoteny in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(14), 5743-5748.

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It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
Director: Andrew Matthews
Writer: Andrew Matthews
Creative Director: David Schulte
Editor/animator: Derek Borsheim
Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox

Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Music via APM
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