Have you ever watched the X-Games or Olympics or any other skiing or snowboarding competition and marveled at the sheer heights that the athletes achieve? Depending on the type of jump the skier goes off, they can reach heights of up to 50 feet off the ground. How exactly do the skiers land what are essentially free falls from such heights? Supposedly “survivable injuries” occur from falling heights above the “critical threshold” of 20-25 feet, so how do these athletes land from heights of up to double this?
Continue reading “Big Air: The mechanics of SKIERS and snowboarders landing after jumps”Category: 2021 Spring
How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It
African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?
Continue reading “How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It”African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?
Continue reading “How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It”Not Everyone Breathes While they Sleep: The Dangers of Sleep Apnea
You might think that breathing in our sleep should come naturally – if breathing and sleeping are both physiologically necessary, then we must be able to do them simultaneously right? Unfortunately, almost a quarter of middle-aged American men and nearly 10% of women suffer from sleep apnea, a chronic condition characterized by repeatedly stopping breathing while sleeping. The clinical symptoms seem rather benign – snoring, sleepiness, fatigue during the day or other issues sleeping. However, by far the most dangerous aspect of this disease is that it puts patients at increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, as well as occupational and/or automobile accidents. Over the last several decades, a variety of therapy options have been studied to treat this condition, ranging from drugs to masks to surgery.
Continue reading “Not Everyone Breathes While they Sleep: The Dangers of Sleep Apnea”How do Flamingos Stand on One Leg?
How long can you stand up before you get tired?
This is an important question for animals that sleep standing up, like horses and flamingos. Our joints are stabilized by muscles, but the constant activation of muscles needed to maintain balance requires energy and induces fatigue.
Continue reading “How do Flamingos Stand on One Leg?”