3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2012–2023score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN recommends it as a good visual explanation of how cats land on their feet.
Destin of Smarter Every Day films a cat falling in high-speed slow motion to show how cats right themselves in midair, and introduces the physics behind it.
“This video has a good explanation of the process” (HN, 2023)
I think it's cos they don't want to get hurt landing on their back. Now how they do it is a different question all together. Ps, awesome video [this video] , article is pretty useless.
You'd just see some blinding white light for a few seconds and then maybe nothing else for the rest of your life. Our human eyes and brains limit us from perceiving even everyday things with the majesty they deserve. Even popping water balloons looks amazing in high speed video. On YouTube, there is a community of people doing silly things with high speed cameras that makes for stimulating watching: Smarter Every Day: weird glass phenomenon [link] Smarter Every Day: cat righting itself in midair [this video] Lots of high speed videos [link]
High speed footage of a cat righting itself in midair
> the exact mechanics of the animal’s righting reflex are still not completely understood. I don't think this is true anymore. They move their head and tail to rotate themselves upright, and due to their low weight their terminal velocity is not fatal. This video has a good explanation of the process, [this video] Squirrels use a similar technique, Mark Rober has made some good videos explaining that.
Explains how cats rotate upright using head and tail
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed
3 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.