Your Cat Knows More Physics than You Do

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And don’t even ask about your dog:
Four researchers have painstakingly filmed, analyzed and determined how it is that a cat can drink water while (unlike a dog) keeping its chin and whiskers pleasingly dry.
The answer involves an exquisite demonstration of physics – where the cat, in effect, balances the forces of gravity against the forces of inertia, and so quenches its thirst.
“What we found is that the cat uses fluid dynamics and physics in a way to absolutely optimize tongue lapping and water collection,” said Jeffrey Aristoff, now at Princeton University but who was one of the four researchers who began their studies out of curiosity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

nationalreview.com/corner/253173/your-cat-knows-more-physics-you-do-john-j-miller
 
I, for one, am happy someone finally figured out the answer to this age old question. Now we can get on to the trivial things - such as curing cancer.
 
Charlotte408 said:
I, for one, am happy someone finally figured out the answer to this age old question. Now we can get on to the trivial things - such as curing cancer.
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One never knows how some obscure technology will later on contribute to a major breakthrough in some other area. Consider the invention of nylon and the microwave oven.

BTW, the work was done by MIT scientists, not by medical researchers, so you’ll have to excuse their sticking to mechanical rather than medical technology.
 
This is why we own dogs. I don’t want animals who know more than me in the house. 🙂
 
rlg94086 said:
This is why we own dogs. I don’t want animals who know more than me in the house. 🙂
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Yes. It becomes obvious, if you own a cat, that it doesn’t need you and disdains dogs. It knows more than you and Fido do, and doesn’t care if you know that.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
One never knows how some obscure technology will later on contribute to a major breakthrough in some other area. Consider the invention of nylon and the microwave oven.

BTW, the work was done by MIT scientists, not by medical researchers, so you’ll have to excuse their sticking to mechanical rather than medical technology.
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Absolutely! In fact, a lot of nano technology solutions come from the study of insects.
 
“I am the cat who walks by himself, and all things are alike to me.”
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
Yes. It becomes obvious, if you own a cat, that it doesn’t need you and disdains dogs. It knows more than you and Fido do, and doesn’t care if you know that.
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And that’s why it urinates all over your possessions.
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
Yes. It becomes obvious, if you own a cat, that it doesn’t need you and disdains dogs. It knows more than you and Fido do, and doesn’t care if you know that.
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Never owned a cat like that. In fact all our cats are even needier than the dog and they think she, the dog, is cool. 🤷
 
gilliam said:
And don’t even ask about your dog:
Four researchers have painstakingly filmed, analyzed and determined how it is that a cat can drink water while (unlike a dog) keeping its chin and whiskers pleasingly dry.
The answer involves an exquisite demonstration of physics – where the cat, in effect, balances the forces of gravity against the forces of inertia, and so quenches its thirst.
“What we found is that the cat uses fluid dynamics and physics in a way to absolutely optimize tongue lapping and water collection,” said Jeffrey Aristoff, now at Princeton University but who was one of the four researchers who began their studies out of curiosity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

nationalreview.com/corner/253173/your-cat-knows-more-physics-you-do-john-j-miller
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This is interesting to read because in my experience it’s about a 50/50 split on whether or not the cat is a neat drinker. Some of mine have been neat drinkers and some of them haven’t. I have one right now who ALWAYS ends up with a wet chin when he gets a drink. We have another one who is 50/50 on the wet chin.
As all cat lovers know well, Felis domestica is a marvel of balance, subtlety and other hidden elegances.
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Phrases like this ALWAYS crack me up. The cats I know are more like the one in this link. 🤷 BTW, please but the drink down before clicking the link!
 
Rich_Olszewski said:
As the article said, “We did it without any funding, without any graduate students, without much of the usual apparatus that science is done with nowadays.”
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Where did you find that article, Rich? The one linked to in the OP says no more than the quote. I’d like to see more information.
 
Sabda said:
Never owned a cat like that. In fact all our cats are even needier than the dog and they think she, the dog, is cool. 🤷
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Yes cats can be very needy of fuss and affection, perhaps it’s that cats fit it in on their agenda where dogs will fit in with yours?

So, when you pick a cat up to give it a fuss, it often wants to do whatever else it’s got planned and then, when you’re doing something like sitting down at your computer to do some work, it turns out that your cats have marked that time down for ‘get fuss from mummy’.
 
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