The LOL cat made it into Nature

If I would follow all science news as closely as all the internet sensations, which pop up at an immense speed day by day, I would probably be much more knowledgeable. But then again, is science always as much fun? Probably not, so it does not come to a surprise that one might look for better avenues in how to approach the (lay?) audience. Sometimes we need a different angle to communicate science findings in the world of Memes (If you are not familiar what a Meme is - here is an update).

However, what I would not have considered possible is to find LOL cats telling me about the  novel type of neurons which presumably transmit pleasurable sensation produced by a gentle skin stroke. A Caltech team around the lead author Sophia Vrontou has found those so called "massage cells" in mice. They have identified cells which are particularly active during skin stroking of the hind leg (but not during pinching or poking), which apparently resulted in  positive associations and sensations (place preference where stroking occurred). If you want to read more about it -check out the paper or if you want the LOL cat explaining you the findings - see the video below: