囧研究：爲什麼貓喝牛奶時不會弄溼下巴
According to the Daily Telegraph on November 12, a team of engineers, physicists and mathematicians conducted a three and a half year study to find out exactly how cats manage to move the milk from saucer to mouth, while keeping their chins dry in the process.
據英國《每日電訊報》11月12日報道，一個由工程師、物理學家和科學家組成的研究小組進行爲期三年半的研究，發現貓是如何將碟子中的牛奶飲到嘴裏，同時在這一過程中又能保持不弄溼自己的下巴。
And far from simply slurping at the bowl, researchers at MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University say the technique exhibits "a perfect balance between two physical forces". The tip of the cat's tongue scarcely brushes the liquid's surface before it is rapidly drawn back. This forms a column of milk between the tongue and the surface, which the cat captures by closing its mouth.
麻省理工學院、弗吉尼亞理工大學和普林斯頓大學研究人員表示，貓喝奶不僅僅是吮吸碗中牛奶，它們喝奶動作簡直就是在進行"兩種物理作用力的完美平衡"表演。貓的舌尖剛剛刷到牛奶的表面就迅速收回，這樣貓的舌頭和牛奶表面就形成一個"牛奶圓柱"，貓閉上嘴巴就可以喝到牛奶。
This column is created by a balance between gravity pulling the liquid back to the bowl, and inertia - the tendency of a substance to move in a given direction until another force intervenes. Cats instinctively know how to strike this balance in order to time the lapping and to capture the liquid in their mouths, according to journal Science.
重力將牛奶重新吸回碗裏，而慣性將牛奶繼續推向原來運動的方向，直到在重力的干預下回落，它們之間的平衡形成了"牛奶圓柱"。《科學》雜誌說，貓本能地知道如何保持這兩種力的平衡，以測算吮吸一次的時間，確保喝到牛奶。
Domestic cats average about four laps per second, with each lap bringing in about 0.1 milliliters of liquid, while big cats naturally lap more slowly to maintain the balance of gravity and inertia.
家貓每秒鐘吮吸四次奶，每次大約能喝到0.1毫升的牛奶，而體型大的貓會自然放慢吮吸速度，以保持重力和慣性之間的平衡。
Mathematician Jeffrey Aristoff said: "Our research — the experimental measurements and theoretical predictions — suggests that the cat chooses the speed in order to maximize the amount of liquid ingested per lap. This suggests that cats are smarter than many people think, at least when it comes to hydrodynamics."
數學家Jeffrey Aristoff表示："我們根據試驗測算和理論預測進行的研究表明，貓會選擇吮吸牛奶的速度，保證每次都能喝到最多的奶。這充分說明它們比人們想象中更聰明，至少在流體力學方面"。
