The far end of the tail of a human sperm has been studied scientifically a bit less than the other parts of the sperm’s structure. A new study suggests that this little chunk is a fairly important part of the sperm’s swimming mechanism. “Doing more with less: The flagellar end piece enhances the propulsive effectiveness […]
Tag: swimming
Could stegosaurs swim?
You might think, as many might have, that by virtue of the characteristic rows of heavy plates along their back and the spiny terminations of their tail, stegosaurs (and other armoured osteoderms) probably would have encountered considerable problems if they attempted to swim. Or did they? A new paper in PYGS : Proceedings of the […]
A Wetsuit for a Penguin
Pierre the plumage-challenged penguin needed some protection from the cold whilst swimming in chilly waters. A bespoke wetsuit was fashioned for him by Pamela Schaller, Senior Aquatic Biologist at the California Academy of Sciences, Steinhart Aquarium, US. Pierre’s story – with pics — is here, in Schaller’s paper called “How and Why to Make a […]
Fish: Dolphins ‘dolphin-kick’ better than humans
Dr. Fish of Westchester University not only specialises in manta rays and whales, [see previous post; Dr. Fish, Dr. Watts and their cetacean tubercules] he also investigates dolphins. In collaboration with Alfred von Loebbecke, Rajat Mittal and Russell Mark, Dr. Fish examined : ‘Propulsive Efficiency of the Underwater Dolphin Kick in Humans’ (Journal of Biomechanical […]