The researchers needed to be able to change a cat's lapping speed
in order to test their theory. So they developed a robotic version of a
cat's tongue — a mechanical column with a 1-inch glass disk at the tip.
This device allowed the researchers to study the liquid column for different
lapping speeds using a high-speed digital camera. The initial image was
taken at 1000 frames per second. The video above is slowed to 15 frames per
second.
Video: Pedro M. Reis, Sunghwan Jung, Jeffrey M. Aristoff and Roman Stocker