The human mind has discovered Pi, solved the mystery of the Taos HumA mysterious hum, first reported in the 1990s, heard by people in the town of Taos in New Mexico. and invented the internet. So you would be forgiven for assuming that we understand one of humanity's oldest companions.

However, although evidence suggests that cats have lived alongside us for over 9,500 years, they continue to confuse us.

In one famous fable called Belling the Cat, a group of preyed-upon mice discuss ways to fend off a predatory feline. They agree to attach a bell to its neck in order to warn them of its approach. However, when trying to choose a volunteer for the task of placing the bell on the cat, none of them is willing.

For the common reader, the fable should symbolise the importance of ensuring that ideas will actually work. For scientists, it can call to mind the frustrations of trying to study cats.

In the 1890s, scientists were astonished by images which broke down the process of a cat falling from a height. The photographs showed the cat twisting whilst in midair, something that they considered impossible according to a physical law called "conservation of angular momentum".

According to this concept, it was believed that bodies that are not rotating cannot start to do so without application of an external force. Since the cat had not pushed itself off the surface, it should not be able to contortTwist or bend out of shape. in the air. Some scientists concluded from the images that cats were immune to the laws of physics.

Modern researchers have resolved this paradoxA seemingly absurd statement which may turn out to be true., proving that it all comes down to evolution. Cats' flexible spines allow them to twist their bodies midair in order to mitigateMake something bad less serious or dangerous. the risk of falling from a height. It explains the saying "cats always land on their feet."

However, many things remain unknown. We still do not understand why cats purr, or why they have the remarkable sum of 100 possible vocalisations.¹ Cat psychology is another growing area of study which throws up few certain conclusions.

Furthermore, cats are not the only animals we do not know enough about. We still do not know for sure why zebras are striped, how some animals appear to be immortal, or how migrating butterflies navigate more than 2,000 miles across the globe.

Yes: It is shocking that we have so little understanding of our domestic companions. Cats are one of the most populous animals in the world. If we know so little about cats, we must be truly ignorant of other, more complex things.

No: Humans have an extraordinary bank of knowledge. We only believe in the mystery of cats because of a long cultural and literary history which has lauded them as incomprehensible and sometimes even divine.

Or... Finding out more about cats is not the key to solving our ignorance. Researching animals at all is a fool's errand at the moment. We should be focusing on developing modern medicine and fighting the climate crisis.