Latest Locomotion Stories

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Conventional walking is good for older adults, and walking on a synthetic mat embedded with smooth stones is even better, researchers have shown. Walking on the so-called cobblestone mat improves physical function and reduces blood pressure to a greater extent than regular walking, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The idea is that the stone surfaces stimulate acupoints on the soles of the feet, which "elicit...

The conspicuous size differences between beefy sprinters and lithesome distance runners are dictated by simple rules of form and function, according to researchers from Rice University and the Texas Medical Center's National Center for Human Performance. Specifically, the greater bulk of speed demons is explained by their need to hit the running surface harder to attain their faster speeds. Details of the findings linking the speed a runner needs to achieve and the ideal body mass for...

A recently completed study by scientists at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) in Eugene confirmed earlier findings from a pilot study that walking on a cobblestone mat surface resulted in significant reductions in blood pressure and improvements in balance and physical performance among adults 60 and over. An article published in an early online publication of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society summarizes the study results in a randomized trial. "These are very exciting...

CORVALLIS, Ore. "“ Humans with an appreciation of beauty may have marveled for millennia at the artistry of a darting hummingbird, but scientists announced today that for the first time they can more fully explain how a hummingbird can hover.Using a powerful technology that was originally developed for engineering, researchers were able to exactly document the movement of air around a hummingbird's wings and show how its flight is accomplished with the body structure of a bird but some of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Hummingbirds hover by flapping their wings a bit like insects and a bit like other birds, and now a super-fast camera has made an image of the technique, scientists reported on Wednesday. A team of U.S. researchers found that hummingbirds manage to hover in air for long periods by supporting 75 percent of their weight during their wings' down stroke and 25 percent on the up stroke. Other birds support all of their weight on the down stroke for slow flight and...