We live in cynical times, and it’s easy to feel like the world is an unforgiving wasteland – that is until you see something that reminds you there’s also a lot of goodness in this world.
That’s the feeling you’re probably left with after seeing this tweet from astrophysicist Dr Katherine Mack, who visited the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Her two-and-a-half-year-old niece, upset at the (fake) wound on a (model) dinosaur (possibly a Brachiosaurus), insisted on giving it a big hug.
Being the size they are, she had to settle for cuddling one leg.
That’s sometimes exactly what you need to see: a cute kid being really nice. Kids are nice, generally – recent research suggests they display empathy from as early as six months.
This little girl has seen someone else’s injury and thought, you know what I like when I’m hurt? A big cuddle.
Dr Mack’s niece isn’t the only kid to have been moved to help this particular prehistoric beast.
There must be something about it that particularly speaks to kids – on at least one other occasion staff have found a child’s attempt at first aid.
We don’t think of dinosaurs as being particularly cuddly, but this one has definitely won over the kids.