scaling
- Flight mechanics and control of escape manoeuvres in hummingbirds. II. Aerodynamic force production, flight control and performance limitations
Summary: Both neural delays and muscle mechanical power capacity could limit the manoeuvring performance of hummingbirds, and pitch manoeuvres require faster sensorimotor transduction than roll manoeuvres.
- The comparative hydrodynamics of rapid rotation by predatory appendages
Highlighted Article: Blade-element analysis and computational fluid dynamics are both effective for analyzing mantis shrimp strike hydrodynamics. Mantis shrimp appendage diversification is strongly impacted by the hydrodynamic consequences of size and kinematics.
- The closed spiracle phase of discontinuous gas exchange predicts diving duration in the grasshopper Paracinema tricolor
Summary: The ability to tolerate periods of spiracular closure in Paracinema tricolor grasshoppers can facilitate predation avoidance via diving or be used for exploiting underwater resources.
- Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism
Summary: Praying mantises, which use direct muscle contractions to generate jumps, have take-off velocities limited by the amount of power (energy/time) the muscles can produce.
- (How) do animals know how much they weigh?
Summary: Animal musculoskeletal designs must be finely tuned to variation in body weight. Various mechanisms that allow such fine tuning are discussed.
- Allometry in Physarum plasmodium during free locomotion: size versus shape, speed and rhythm
Summary: Allometric studies of Physarum polycepharum reveal the existence of not only scaling law in locomotion speed, cell shape and intrinsic rhythm but also non-scalable rhythm components related to formation of the entire cell shape.
- Larger lacertid lizard species produce higher than expected iliotibialis muscle power output: the evolution of muscle contractile mechanics with body size
Summary: Co-evolution of larger body size with greater muscle stress and normalised power output occurred in lacertid lizard species.
- Differences in scaling and morphology between lumbricid earthworm ecotypes
Summary: Comparison of the scaling and morphology between surface-dwelling and burrowing earthworm ecotypes suggests that adaptations for burrowing include a disproportionately thin body and strong longitudinal muscles.
- Children and adults minimise activated muscle volume by selecting gait parameters that balance gross mechanical power and work demands
Highlighted Article: The gross mechanics of walking and running children and adults support a new model for the costs dominating level terrestrial locomotion – muscle activation for mechanical work or power.