biomechanics
- Determinants of preferred ground clearance during swing phase of human walking
Summary: The foot's ground clearance during each swing phase of walking may be explained by competing costs of lifting the foot versus scuffing it on the ground, modulated by movement variability.
- Vertebral bending mechanics and xenarthrous morphology in the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)
Summary: Xenarthrous articulations perform the dual role of stiffening the vertebral column and increasing mobility, resulting in passively stable vertebrae that are capable of substantial bending under appropriate load.
- Flowing water affects fish fast-starts: escape performance of the Hawaiian stream goby, Sicyopterus stimpsoni
Summary: Fast-start escape trials conducted in flow tanks indicate that fish heading into flow frequently fail to respond when attacked frontally, potentially because mechanical stimuli are masked by flowing water.
- Ergonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency
Summary: Investigation of load transportation efficiency in ants shows that it depends on both their morphology and the transportation method they use, i.e. carrying or dragging.
- Pelvic girdle mobility of cryptodire and pleurodire turtles during walking and swimming
Summary: Despite enclosure of the pelvis in a shell, cryptodire turtles show substantial pelvic movements during walking and swimming that enhance limb excursion and may influence ecological traits of the clade.
- Kinematics of mouthbrooding in Oreochromis niloticus (Cichlidae)
Highlighted Article: Mouthbrooding cichlids regularly use posterior-to-anterior waves of head expansion and significant inflow through the opercular slits to move the brood anteriorly away from the gills.
- Wake analysis of aerodynamic components for the glide envelope of a jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
Summary: Measurements of aerodynamic drag on a jackdaw indicate that lift-induced drag increases with wing flexing and with tail use, while tail use also increases body drag.
- Turning performance in squid and cuttlefish: unique dual-mode, muscular hydrostatic systems
Summary: Squid and cuttlefish are capable of high maneuverability and agility through coordination of a unique muscular hydrostat-driven propulsive system involving paired fins and a pulsed jet.
- Forces generated during stretch in the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus are anisotropic and are altered by neuromodulators
Summary: In lobster hearts, SGRNFLRFamide and GYSNRNYLRFamide had anisotropic, inotropic effects on the biaxial and uniaxial length–tension curves measured along the longitudinal and transverse axes of beating hearts in control and stimulated preparations.
- Increased muscular volume and cuticular specialisations enhance jump velocity in solitarious compared with gregarious desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria
Highlighted Article: Larger muscles and more elastic cuticular springs allow solitarious locusts to jump 25% faster than gregarious locusts, but they require double the energy and time to operate the spring mechanism.