Walter Thompson, age 8, of Montgomery, Alabama, for his question:

Why do a cat's eyes glow in the dark?

A pussycat is supposed to go out at night and hunt for mice. Part of her job is to keep down the mouse population. But at night the world is dark. Without some special help, Miss Puss could not see the nose in front of her furry face    let alone catch a mouse. So nature gave her special eyes that see better in the dark than our eyes do. But quite by accident, this special gift makes her eyes glow like  small reflectors in the dark.

As a matter of fact, her eyes are reflectors. The light bounces off special mirrors at the back of her eyes. As the light comes in and goes out, it brings two pictures of the scenery. This makes the dark patches look twice as dark and the light patches look twice as light. The stronger contrasts help the cat to see more clearly    but the reflectors in her eyes glow and warn everybody that she is prowling around.