Heart *and* brain. The current consensus in neurology is that the brain is as much a feeling organism as a thinking one, and that cognition itself is inextricably linked to emotion. I recommend Antonio Damasio’s book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (O’Neill Library QP401 .D2 1994) as an early & influential title. There’s also been a lot of research into the effects of gut microbiota on mood, depression, and anxiety (bit.ly/gut-mood). Gut feeling? It’s truer than we knew, and bacteria may even play a part. Heart, brain, gut… all of it and more: neurons extend throughout your entire body, sort of like all the network cables in a Wall.

As with most myths it is difficult to know exactly where and when this saying emerged, but most experts agree that it is based on the natural grace of cats and their natural reflex to turn and land on their feet when falling. Both of these meant that cats could survive accidents and escape from danger. However, it is important to note that cats can, of course, be injured and don’t actually have 9 lives. Interestingly enough, the exact number of lives in this myth varies by region with some Spanish-speaking areas of the world as well as Italy, Greece, and Brazil instead saying that cats have 7 lives and many Arabic-speaking parts of the world saying that they have only 6.