I’m one of those people who is perpetually, somehow, covered in coffee. After about 30 seconds in my cup, my coffee inevitably comes out of it, turning the whole thing into a dripping mess.

So I was intrigued when I saw  this recently published study, which gives a scientific explanation of why you spill coffee — and how you might actually keep it in your glass cup.

The research was done by South Korean physics student Jiwon Han, who did the study while competing in a physics research tournament in Thailand. Han studied the motion of coffee using oscillators, a mechanical machine that shakes the glass to simulate the motion of walking. He also strapped an accelerometer to the top of his mug and walked around, to measure the exact motion the glass coffee cup was going through.

Han finds several solutions to the coffee-splashing problem, although only a few of them are likely to be acceptable in your office. His first reassuring conclusion is that it’s not all your fault: It’s partly due to the shape of a coffee cup. At a normal walking speed, liquid held in a coffee cup tends to splash around much more than liquid in a wine glass. So there’s one solution. If your office is like mine, however, drinking your coffee out of a wine glass at work might be frowned upon.

Han finds several solutions to the coffee-splashing problem, although only a few of them are likely to be acceptable in your office. His first reassuring conclusion is that it’s not all your fault: It’s partly due to the shape of a coffee cup. At a normal walking speed, liquid held in a coffee cup tends to splash around much more than liquid in a wine glass. So there’s one solution. If your office is like mine, however, drinking your coffee out of a wine glass at work might be frowned upon.