MAY WE RECOMMEND--
Jane Fondaesque Considerations in Two Species

Items worth a trip to the library

compiled by Rachael Moeller and A.S. Kaswell, AIR staff

The following are detailed discussions of methods to achieve aerobic fitness, human or otherwise.

"Patterns of Muscle Activation in Human Hopping," K. Funase, T. Higashi, A. Sakakibara, K. Imanaka, Y. Nishihira and T.S. Miles, European Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 84, 2001, p. 503-9. The authors report that:

In the present study, we examined the electromyogram (EMG) patterns of the soleus and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles during rhythmical, two-legged hopping...

"Coordinated Righting Behaviour in Locusts," A. A. Faisal and T. Matheson, Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 204, no. 4, 2001, p. 637-48. (Thanks to Richard Wassersug for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at the University of Cambridge, report that:

A locust placed upside down on a flat surface uses a predictable sequence of leg movements to right itself. To analyse this behaviour, we made use of a naturally occurring state of quiescence (thanatosis) to position locusts in a standardised upside-down position from which they spontaneously right themselves.

© Copyright 2002 Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)

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