biomechanics

(Newser) - Scientists and snake fans have long wondered how exactly boas and other constrictors can ingest massive prey without suffocating. Biomechanics researcher John Capano of Brown University found the answer somewhere in the 200-plus pairs of ribs that run the length of a boa’s body, reports NPR News. In new...

(Newser) - It may be a first-world problem—that little drip of wine that slides annoyingly down the neck of a bottle after it's been poured—but to one scientist, it was simply a physics challenge waiting to be overcome. Biophysicist Daniel Perlman at Brandeis University, an inventor with more than...

(Newser) - Someday, the US may fight wars with an army of creepy robotic cheetahs. That's right, a Pentagon-funded robo-cheetah has been successfully tested, setting a new land-speed record for a machine with legs, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency has announced. The cheetah hit a speed of 18mph, which makes...

(Newser) - Volvo executives have vowed to create an un-crashable, injury-proof car by 2020, Reuters reports. The car manufacturer is adapting technology developed for commercial aviation to create a vehicle that will take over the controls in a dangerous situation and brake or steer out of harm's way. Engineers are hopeful such...