Tongue Defeats Gravity: Cats

Some people are inspired by nature when visiting a tide pool, sitting on a sand dune, or hiking in an ancient forest. But Roman Stocker didn’t have to travel far—he watched his cat drink water. Stocker and his colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that a cat just barely touches its curled-back tongue to the water, then draws it toward the mouth, pulling a column of water with it. It’s a delicate, well-timed feat, exploiting inertia to beat gravity. Surprisingly, it’s not the raspy front of the tongue but the back of it that the water adheres to. By watching videos of other species of cats like tigers and lions, the researchers concluded that this water-lapping technique is found in all cats. Potential applications could be to improve our ability to clean up oil or chemical spills or for soft robotics such as those used in hospitals or labs.
Photo by tanakawho; License: CC-by-nd

For more visit: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/cats-tongues-employ-tricky-physi.html?rss=1

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