Why Falling Cats Always Seem To Land On Their Feet (nytimes.com)
- Reference: 0180955524
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/11/2151249/why-falling-cats-always-seem-to-land-on-their-feet
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/science/falling-cat-problem.html
> In a paper, [1]published last month in the journal The Anatomical Record , researchers offered a novel take on falling felines. Their evidence suggests new insights into the so-called falling cat problem, particularly that cats have a very flexible segment of their spines that [2]allows them to correct their orientation midair . [...] People have been curious about falling cats perhaps as long as the animals have been living with humans, but the method to their acrobatic abilities remains enigmatic. Part of the difficulty is that the anatomy of the cat has not been studied in detail, explains Yasuo Higurashi, a physiologist at Yamaguchi University in Japan and lead author of the study. [...]
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> Modern research has split the falling cat problem into two competing models. The first, "legs in, legs out," suggests that cats correct their falling trajectory by first extending their hind limbs before retracting them, using a sequential twist of their upper and then lower trunk to gain the proper posture while in free fall. The second model, "tuck and turn," suggests that cats turn their upper and lower bodies in simultaneous juxtaposed movements. [...]
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> The researchers found that the feline spine was extremely flexible in the upper thoracic vertebrae, but stiffer and heavier in the lower lumbar vertebrae. The discovery matches video evidence showing the cats first turn their front legs, and then their lower legs. The results suggest the cat quickly spins its flexible upper torso to face the ground, allowing it to see so that it can correctly twist the rest of its body to match. "The thoracic spine of the cat can rotate like our neck," Dr. Higurashi said.
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> Experiments on the spine show the upper vertebrae can twist an astounding 360 degrees, he says, which helps cats make these correcting movements with ease. The results are consistent with the "legs in, legs out" model, but definitively determining which model is correct will take more work, Dr. Higurashi says. The results also yielded another discovery: Cats, like many animals, appear to have a right-side bias. One of the dropped cats corrected itself by turning to the right eight out of eight times, while the other turned right six out of eight times.
[1] https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.70165
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/science/falling-cat-problem.html
Just Gemini it (Score:2)
I just asked Gemini "why do cats tend to land on their feet" and it already knew this, going into explicit detail of the entire phenomenon, but of course AI can't work so that isn't possible.
Re: Just Gemini it (Score:2)
Did it figure it out on its own or did it do the fetch-and-generate a dumbed-down answer it is programmed to do?
Re: (Score:2)
What was your assessment after actually trying it?
> "did it do the fetch-and-generate a dumbed-down answer it is programmed to do?"
That part of your question exposes the fact that you have no idea how AI actually works. If you try it you will see that it clearly is not just grabbing text it finds on the internet and spewing it out like some kind of word salad, as is the common misunderstanding of what LLM based AIs do.
A cat-astrophe... (Score:2)
A cat-astrophe...this was researched by NASA and the United States Air Force as this Youtube! video explains...
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
The cat's meow...or paw-fectly.
--JoshK.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edIK_3GWq2w
I'll just leave this here. (Score:2)
[1]Cat physics [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8yW5cyXXRc
Re: I'll just leave this here. (Score:2)
Thanks. If you hadnt posted this, i would have
What about dogs? They do it too? (Score:1)
Don't dogs also do this? Albeit maybe slower than cats? If you release a god back down, it doesn't just fall, it definitely twists so that it is mostly paws down when landing (I have done this over water with a dog who likes being in water). I would guess that this is something that fourlegged animals in general do, isn't it? At least predator type animals, maybe not deer or cows, because they are never climbing stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure this was a solved problem when I was a kid and that's been a long while now.
Re: Seems like a waste of time and money (Score:2)
We know about your only friend, thanks