The Science of Cuteness

This is the transcript from a report done by Jeanne Moos of CNN. You can also view the video here. I dare you to get through it without smiling, laughing, or squealing in delight.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sure hope Shiloh isn't shy, because her face is plastered all over the place

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lips, the nose, the eyes, the everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MOOS: But all this rhapsodizing about the Brangelina baby got us wondering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can you define cute?

MOOS: It's that thing that makes you go...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

MOOS: But there is a science to cute, and a poster child is the panda bear. For instance, the cub at Washington's National Zoo.

(on camera): Which one is cuter to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby panda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The panda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that panda bear is so cute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a cute baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I love children, but I think the panda is just so cute. Look at the eyes.

MOOS (voice over): Researchers say humans react to forward- facing eyes set low on a big, round face, with prominent ears, floppy limbs, and a waddling gate. No wonder folks seem attracted to penguins, both real and animated.

They say cuteness stimulates the same pleasure centers in the brain that are aroused by sex, food and drugs. We say "ah" over the pandas. Photographers even said "ah" over a wax version of the Brangelina baby introduced at Madame Tussauds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That baby is very cute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably the panda because the baby is going to turn into a disgusting teenager.

MOOS: Researchers say humans react to the vulnerability of the young.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he kind of shows a vulnerable side.

MOOS: Which is good for evolution, since it brings out protective instincts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold it. Hold it.

MOOS: There are Web sites devoted to cute, like Cute Overload, which features nothing but cute pictures and videos that people submit. Sleepiness seems to add to the vulnerability we find so appealing.

There's even a section for cute products. And who doesn't see the round face factor in cute cars like the VW Bug and the Mini?

The opposite of cute overload is ugly overload, featuring cow tongues and bats, not to mention El Pacas (ph). But sometimes homeliness can be cute.

One of the most popular stories I have ever done was on Sam, the three-time winner of the ugliest dog contest, now deceased. And as for the smackdown between the panda and the Brangelina baby...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This bear is much cuter than that baby. I know that baby cries. And that bear, well, he just looks too damn cute.

MOOS: ... the panda won, 16-12, a vote not worth losing sleep over.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.