NYT It takes backbone to solve an enigma like the “falling cat” problem. In 1894, the French physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey tried to resolve a particularly vexing question in science: How do cats always seem to land on their feet when they fall? Using the era’s rudimentary videos, Marey was able to definitively illustrate that cats, when dropped from a height, were able to right themselves in the air unaided.
The findings shocked the scientific community, but the mystery of how cats ultimately achieve this feat has remained unresolved.
In a paper, 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 allows them to correct their orientation midair.
Greg Gbur, a physicist and cat-falling expert at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who was not involved with the paper, said the study was the first he knew of that explored “what the structure of the cat’s spine tells us about how a cat turns over while falling.” He added that the research uncovered many remarkable details about how cats maneuver while falling.