safety factor
- Feeling the heat: source–sink mismatch as a mechanism underlying the failure of thermal tolerance
Summary: A modified hypothesis about high temperature-induced failure of electrically excitable tissues is discussed; briefly, initiation and conduction of action potentials is impaired by temperature-dependent mismatch between active and passive properties of the cell membrane.
- Evidence for a sexually selected function of the attachment system in bedbugs Cimex lectularius (Heteroptera, Cimicidae)
Summary: Bedbugs show sexual dimorphism in attachment to smooth surfaces, consistent with sexual, but not natural, selection. Insect attachment devices may be under similarly rapid diversifying evolution as male genitalia.
- Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticks Ixodes ricinus (Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)
Highlighted Article: Ixodes ricinus is equipped with elastic claws and foldable adhesive pads which result in a tarsal attachment of up to 534 times female body mass to smooth surfaces.