Are Cats Liquid?

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January 11, 2022

a project of ServiceSpace

If you could stand at just a little distance in time, how fluid and shape-shifting physical reality would be, everything hurrying into some other form, even concrete, even stone.

- Mark Doty -

Are Cats Liquid?

"A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition. This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this question it made me laugh, and then think. I decided to reformulate it to illustrate some problems at the heart of rheology, the study of the deformations and flows of matter." Marc-Antoine Fardin's research on the rheology of cats won him the 2017 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. The goal of the organization that awards these prizes is "to highlight scientific studies that first make people laugh, then think." Read on for Fardin's response to the question, "Are cats liquid?" { read more }

Be The Change

"How do cats fit in cups and vases? Why do felines grab our attention and love? Why are their videos more popular on the Internet than dog videos? Marc Abrahams, Jean Berko Gleason and Marc-Antoine Fardin will discuss these and other cat science questions, probable and improbable, in an intriguing and hopefully humorous online discussion later this month. You can learn more here. { more }

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