The five lessons

Lesson 1

What's a cat?

This is the fifty-sixth lesson of our Big Course. Along the way to the answer, you'll learn what makes cute things "cute", what's odd about their head, eyes, whiskers, legs, and tail, and how big they REALLY are. 

Oh, and you'll learn how to draw a cat!

Lesson 2

What's OBVIOUS about cats... over 12,000 years?

This is the fifty-seventh lesson of our Big Course. Along the way to the answer, you'll learn how folk in other societies have felt about cats, what pet cats do outside at night, and what house cats have in common with mustangs... and zebra fish.

Oh, you'll also dip your toes into two - count 'em, two! - of the hottest fights around cats... and hear Brandon's take on how science can help resolve one of them.

Lesson 3

What kind of cat is a cat?

This is the fifty-eighth lesson of our Big Course. Along the way to the answer, you'll learn what the great-great-great (...) grandma of a house cat was (and how we figured that out), what domestication really means (and how cats did it differently), and a certain super-consequential part of your party that you never knew you had.

Lesson 4

What's the difference between cats & dogs?

This is the fifty-ninth lesson of our Big Course. Along the way to the answer, you'll learn what mammals (actually) are, which baby mammals look like that AREN'T vampires, and the secret process that evolution's been running on canids & felids. 


Lesson 5

Can we tell what it's like to be a cat?

This is the - deep breath - sixtieth lesson of our Big Course. Along the way to the answer, you'll learn about a revolution (or two) in how we think about the minds of animals, something odd that happened 200 million years ago that's still affecting cats right this minute, and the secret cat hidden inside each cat.


Secret Sixth

What's the BEST THING big cats did for small cats?

This is our FINAL (Secret Sixth) lesson o' Year Two! Along the way to the answer, you'll learn about a host of prehistoric hominids - Australopithecus, Homo erectus, and Neanderthals. You'll also... well, we don't want to give away the surprise.