The Question That Won Me the Ig Nobel Prize: Are Cats Liquid?

Real Clear Science ^ | November 10, 2017 | Marc-Antoine Fardin

[C19fan]

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. My study on the rheology of cats won the 2017 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics.

[Blurb2350]

It's well known that cats have a high mercury content. How else to explain the cat thermometer?

[minnesota_bound]

Flying felines in kung fu poses
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mortal-tomcats-photographer-snaps-flying-slideshow-wp-171816566/photo-p-p-p-span-talented-photo-171816204.html

[House Atreides]

You need to gently wring that hand washed laundry out & spread it out to dry.

[Sequoyah101]

I have wondered how they keep the population of cats in check and how the tradition came to be.

Yes, I confess to being a cat fancier. Ours are outsiders and get put in the barn at night and stay in there on bad days. We do our best to protect them from coyotes. Lots of things prey on cats and they don’t know to be afraid until it is too late.