The running of the people who are running from the bulls at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, begs for some insights. Insights — insights about the running of those people from those bulls — course through the paragraphs of this newly published study: “Pedestrian Dynamics at the Running of the Bulls Evidence […]
Tag: running
Running with bent elbows – the mystery continues [study]
• Most people tend to walk with their elbows slightly bent. • Most people tend to run with their elbows acutely bent. • No-one knows why. There is however, a(n) hypothesis. It’s the ‘Mechanical Tradeoff Hypothesis.’ which was descibed by Andrew K. Yegian, Yanish Tucker, Stephen Gillinov and Daniel E. Lieberman in their 2019 paper […]
A Big Spring in One’s Step Makes One Faster
An almost-Nakamatsian invention would let human runners run much faster, explains a new study: “How to run 50% faster without external energy,” Amanda Sutrisno and David J. Braun, Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 13, March 25, 2020, eaay1950. The authors, at Vanderbilt University, report: “Humans have attempted to surpass their natural running capability using springs […]
Wild Mice Utilize a Wheel of Fortuitous Apparation
Wheels sometimes do crop up in nature, especially when a human placed them there. Humans recently did it again, as this report makes clear: “Wheel Running in the Wild,” Johanna H. (“Joke”) Meijer [pictured here] and Yuri Robbers, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 281 no. 1786, July 7, 2014. The authors, at Leiden University […]
The effect of potholes in the path of helmeted guinea fowl
What happens when Helmeted Guinea Fowl, out walking, encounter an unexpected pothole? Do they fall over? That depends, in quite an improbable way, on whether they see it coming or not … In 2005, a research team at Concord Field Station, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, US, endeavoured to clarify things by encouraging […]
Predictors of 3-D Breast Kinematics during Bare-Breasted Running
A six-person research team has just released its findings about the predictors of three-dimensional breast kinematics during bare-breasted running. Details are in their singular study: “Predictors of Three-Dimensional Breast Kinematics during Bare-Breasted Running“, Louise Ellen Wood, Jennifer White, Alexandra Milligan, Bessie Ayres, Wendy Hedger, and Joanna Scurr [pictured here], Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 44, […]
Octopus goes twice as fast, with a wheel
How fast does an octopus typically run in an exercise wheel? That has yet to be determined. But one value is reported in the study: “Cutaneous Respiration in Octopus Vulgaris,” J.J. Madan and M.J. Wells, Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 199, pp. 2477–2483 (1996). The authors, at the University of Cambridge, UK, explain, citing two […]
Running Speeds of Crippled Coyotes
Running Speeds of Crippled Coyotes introduced itself in 1976, in a journal called Northwest Science. You’ll find few scientific studies that tell their story so clearly and efficiently. Bruce C Thompson, of the department of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University, wrote everything he had to say in a plain two pages. It contains little […]
Interview with Professor barefoot & pregnant
Claudia Dreyfus interviews Daniel Lieberman (who shared the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in physics, for or analytically determining why pregnant women don’t tip over) about his research on barefoot running and other things. It’s in the New York Times. Here’s a snippet: Among his academic peers, Daniel Lieberman, 47, is known as a “hoof and mouth” […]
Running downhill
Does running downhill affect maximum speed? A team from the Structure and Motion Laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College in the UK have been investigating the relationship between running-speed and slope. The rapidity of thoroughbred racehorses (Equus caballus), greyhounds (Canis familiaris) and human subjects (Homo sapiens) was logged under a number of different uphill and […]