Biomechanics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Head stabilization arises from population geometry of neck muscle activity that is conserved and smoothly scaled across walking speeds, but reorganized during more natural overground locomotion, revealing flexible, context-dependent motor control.

Evidence suggests oxygen levels may not have been limiting factor — plus, CRISPR gives cancer-fighting immune cells an upgrade.

Hand bones from a human relative, found in Kenya, reveal features similar to those of living gorillas, complicating the evolutionary history of hand and tool manipulation.

A paper in Science Advances provides a mechanics-based explanation for why flightless birds run the way they do.

Statistical analyses across hundreds of species revealed that bird wing and leg proportions evolve independently and accommodate divergent ecological tasks. By contrast, bat limbs evolve in unison, which potentially restricts their evolutionary capacity. We attribute this result to the common development and function of bat forelimbs and hindlimbs within the membranous wing.

An article in Nature Materials describes the bioprinting of hydrogel force sensors directly into the tissues of live embryos to quantify the mechanical forces driving morphogenesis.

Certain air sacs have evolved in multiple lineages of soaring birds, and it emerges that these probably function to reduce the force required from the major flight muscles as they hold the wings in place during gliding and soaring.