About 30% of women worldwide experience Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD), the failure of the pelvic floor muscles. PFD is often caused by childbirth and pregnancy, and it significantly impacts the quality of life for many women, highlighting the need for scientific solutions.
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Can Smartphone Overuse Permanently Damage Thumb Function?
Recently, a few studies(Inal et al. and Osailan) have been conducted on young people and adults regarding their pinch grip and hand grip strength. Shockingly those studies show that people who spend a long time using smartphones show very poor performance in their pinch and hand grip. We know our thumb is the finger used mostly for operating smartphones. It is also the most significant finger for any grip as well. Is it possible that the thumb is damaged permanently by overuse of a smartphone or is it just a correlation, not a causation?
Continue reading “Can Smartphone Overuse Permanently Damage Thumb Function?”The Biomechanical Blueprint: How Cheetahs’ Bodies Are Engineered for Speed
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is the fastest land animal on earth reaching speeds of over 60 miles per hour (29 m/s). The cheetah is native to Africa and parts of the Middle East and is a predator of the impala, along with several other prey animals of the Savannah and Middle East. The biomechanics of the cheetah can help us understand how to create such high speeds in biological organisms and how to protect the body against high acceleration and decelerations.
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Nine brains, eight arms, three hearts, and zero bones – what on Earth could be built like this? The answer… an Octopus!
The octopus is a creature that not only intrigues the avid scuba divers of the world but many in the science community. Often referred to as a “sea alien” – the octopus is a creature that contains extraterrestrial looks and abilities. Regardless of their size, octopuses can morph themselves into incredible shapes and sizes to allow themselves to squeeze through small spaces or expand to demonstrate strength against possible predators. The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique muscular and connective tissue structure of octopuses and how this allows them to do so many out-ofworldly abilities.
Continue reading “Aliens of the Ocean – How Can an Octopus Manipulate its Body So Well?”Endurance Performance: The Biomechanics of VO2 Max and Muscle Fatigue in Endurance Sports
Endurance athletes, ranging from marathon runners to long-distance cyclists, are frequently faced with the mechanical limits of their muscles and bodies. But what sets these limits? A key limitation is the anaerobic threshold. The anaerobic threshold is the point at which the body shifts from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism, which causes a buildup of lactate and ultimately muscle fatigue. This is particularly an issue for endurance athletes because is limits the athlete’s ability to sustain force production and resist fatigue, lowering their endurance capabilities.
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Have you ever wondered how chameleons are able to shoot out their tongues, grab a snack, and bring it back to their mouths? That skill is all thanks to the chameleon tongue’s unique mix of special muscles. Their ability to use their tongue for grocery shopping is essential for their survival, and the way it works is fascinating!
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What is the most difficult thing to do in sports? Many fans and journalists say it’s hitting a home run in baseball. It isn’t so hard for everyone though- Barry Bonds racked up 762 of them across his MLB career, setting the record for the most home runs ever hit. But what fans also remember are the allegations that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs to gain a step on the competition. But how much of his success should really be attributed to steroids?
Continue reading “How steroids affect muscle growth and performance”Snakes: What makes them slither?
If you had no legs or arms, wouldn’t it be difficult to get from place to place? However, snakes don’t have any legs and they get around just fine! Almost all land animals had legs to propel themselves forward, so how do snakes move so effectively? The biology of a snake involves a series of ribs and muscles that contort a snake’s body to push itself forward. Not only does the snake’s internal makeup allow it to move, but also its exterior. Snakeskin has frictional properties which allow it to remain stationary along an incline with just a few scales in contact with a surface!
A snake’s ability to slither across the ground is made possible by its ability to bend using a series of muscles along their body. The scientific term for this bending motion is lateral and vertical bending. A snake uses lateral bending to change direction or propel itself forward along a flat surface. Vertical bending is employed when a snake is pushing off a surface intending to move upward, such as in a tree or on a steep rocky slope. Using the terrain upon which the snake is traversing, the snake is able to propel itself forward by pushing off uneven ground, sand, branches, or other obstacles.
Snakes have a series of hundreds of ribs that run along the entire length of their body. Not only do their ribs provide a firm foundation for the snake to push itself off of the ground, but they also provide structural support for the snake to traverse gaps along a surface such as holes, tree branches, or other places where a snake cannot use bending to move. With respect to slithering, the ribs of a snake allow it to bend and coil to get the best contact with the ground.
However, it is not just the forces that snakes apply to the ground that allow them to move, but also the makeup of their skin. Snakeskin has frictional properties that allow them to get a better grip on the surface upon which they move. For example, if a surface is slippery or at a steep incline, a snake can increase the surface area their skin covers by changing the angle their scales come into contact with a surface.
Understanding how snakes move without the use of legs is important for engineering applications. Legless robotics can be designed using the concept of the biomechanics behind the movement of snakes. For example, this could be implemented in terrestrial rovers that can travel across uneven terrain. In addition, materials science applications for purposes of gripping can mimic snakeskin for higher friction abilities. This would be greatly beneficial for sports, military, or medical equipment where gripping ability determines overall usability.
Let Kids Be Kids: The Unnecessary Dangers of Youth Sports Specialization
The allure of athletic success is hard to ignore in today’s society. The opportunities, notoriety, and wealth that come along with prowess in a particular sport are certainly enticing and have contributed to a growing trend towards youth sports specialization, where athletes focus on one sport from a very young age. And while the work ethic of these young athletes is admirable, their reasoning and that of their parents is a bit flawed.
Continue reading “Let Kids Be Kids: The Unnecessary Dangers of Youth Sports Specialization”Do Humans Get Weaker in Outer Space?
We have entered an era of renewed excitement regarding human space travel. The international community has lofty goals for the future of human spaceflight: returning to the Moon, sending crewed missions to Mars and other planets, and even colonizing space to save the human race when Earth is no longer habitable. These goals are beyond exciting, but before we can safely accomplish any of them, we must understand the biological consequences of space travel. For instance, it is well documented that space travel causes muscle atrophy, or deterioration. What causes this atrophy, and can how it be prevented?
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