Well, not every ordinary thing can produce really neat science. Physicists at the University of California at Santa Barbara studied the motion of coffee in a cup to see why it spilled so often.
And of course it is a matter of physics because it has to do with inertia, momentum and the relationship between the rate of coffee slosh in the cup and the speed at which the person holding the cup walks. According to the studies, the coffee is most likely to slop over the cup somewhere between the seventh and tenth steps taken while holding it.
The solution? Well, it seems coffee drinkers shouldn't fill to the brim and should walk more slowly while carrying their pick-me-up beverage. I may have to read the story again to see if there's some esoteric factor I missed, but I'm pretty sure I didn't need an advanced degree in physics to figure that one out.
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