Biomechanics articles within Nature

Featured

  • Spotlight |

    The young discipline of sports science is finding ways to stretch the boundaries of human biology.

    • Tim Hornyak

  • News & Views |

    Hair-like sensors are suspected to aid fish navigation in complex environments. Laboratory experiments and computational simulations reveal how these sensors can detect water flow to direct the swimming responses of fish. See Letter p.445

    • John O. Dabiri

  • Technology Feature |

    Innovative tools are revealing the forces that guide cellular processes such as embryonic development and tumour growth.

    • Michael Eisenstein

  • News & Views |

    Mosquitoes flap their long, thin wings four times faster than similarly sized insects. Imaging and computational analysis of mosquito flight illuminates some aerodynamic mechanisms not seen before in animal flight. See Letter p.92

    • Laura A. Miller

  • News & Views |

    Many organ surfaces are covered by a protective epithelial-cell layer. It emerges that such layers are maintained by cell stretching that triggers cell division mediated by the force-sensitive ion-channel protein Piezo1. See Letter p.118

    • Carl-Philipp Heisenberg

  • News & Views |

    It emerges that a dogfish shark's spine becomes stiffer as the fish swims faster, enabling the animal to swim efficiently at different speeds. The finding could also provide inspiration for the design of robotic biomaterials.

    • Matthew A. Kolmann
    •  & Adam P. Summers

  • Books & Arts |

    John E. Moalli and Adam P. Summers relish a book on biomechanical spin, from wheels to free-falling felines.

    • John E. Moalli
    •  & Adam P. Summers

  • Books & Arts |

    Biomechanist Adam Summers of the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories has spent much of his life working out how fish move. But he has another role that some would consider more prestigious. As Pixar's 'fabulous fish guy', he advised the animation company on ichthyology for its 2003 hit Finding Nemo and the long-awaited sequel Finding Dory. On the eve of the sequel's opening, Summers talks about the tension between entertainment and science, being corrected by kids and the wild drama of the piscine world.

    • Daniel Cressey

  • News & Views |

    A new feathered dinosaur from China, belonging to an obscure and strange carnivorous group, bears a seemingly bony wrist structure that may have had a role in flight. See Letter p.70

    • Kevin Padian

  • Article |

    A novel tracking collar provides highly precise location, speed and acceleration data from 367 runs by five cheetahs in the wild; although a top speed of 58 m.p.h. was reported, few runs were above 45 m.p.h. with the average run around 31 m.p.h., and hunting success depended on grip, manoeuvrability and muscle power rather than outright speed.

    • A. M. Wilson
    • , J. C. Lowe
    •  & J. W. McNutt

  • News & Views |

    Tightrope walkers use poles to keep their balance. A study reveals that agama lizards use their tails much like balancing poles as they leap through the air — and that some dinosaurs may have done the same. See Letter p.181

    • R. McNeill Alexander

  • News & Views |

    There are well-known aerodynamic and energetic benefits to flying in an orderly formation. By contrast, it seems that the flocking flight seen in pigeons is metabolically expensive. So why do they do it? See Letter p.494

    • Geoffrey Spedding

  • News & Views |

    Detailed analyses of foot kinematics and kinetics in barefoot and shod runners offer a refined understanding of bipedalism in human evolution. This research will also prompt fresh studies of running injuries.

    • William L. Jungers

  • Letter |

    Although humans have engaged in long-distance running either barefoot or with minimal footwear for most of human evolutionary history, the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. Here, runners who habitually run in sports shoes are shown to run differently to those who habitually run barefoot, with the latter often landing on the fore-foot rather than the rear-foot. This strike pattern may have evolved to protect from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by runners.

    • Daniel E. Lieberman
    • , Madhusudhan Venkadesan
    •  & Yannis Pitsiladis

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