Issues

Summary: A framework centered on the dynamic interactions of springs and latches enables clear, comparable measurements and productive interdisciplinary pathways for biological analysis and engineering design.

Summary: A spider-eating predator, Portia africana, plans ahead of time whether to access its prey by taking a detour or a direct route.

Summary: Muscle spindle afferent firing rates are closely related to estimated history-dependent muscle fiber force and yank, suggesting that they signal internal muscle forces and not those of the whole musculotendon.

Summary: In rat fast-twitch and slow-twitch skeletal muscles, fatigue-induced loss of maximal power is associated with an increase in the curvature of the force–velocity relationship.

Summary: Comparative study of cockroach self-righting reveals performance advantages of using rotational kinetic energy to overcome the potential energy barrier and rolling more to lower it while maintaining diverse strategies.

Highlighted Article: Pulsating soft corals generate continual flow towards the polyp, allow slow mixing between the bristles, and eject this fluid in an upward jet to maximize mixing.

Highlighted Article: Legless insect larvae jump long distances by curling into a loop, forming a transient leg through hydrostatic pressurization, and releasing a latch formed by finger-like microstructures.

Summary: Rapid cold hardening has a well-established role in preventing death from cold; present data show it also protects against non-lethal freezing injury in a freeze-tolerant Antarctic insect.

Summary: Detailed quantitative analysis of light responses in the medicinal leech Hirudo verbana unequivocally demonstrates the existence of parallel visual pathways processing visual light and UV stimuli. Responses to spatially extended stimuli indicate that the leech performs spatial integration of visual stimuli.

Summary: The inner nacre and outer prismatic calcite layer enables mussel shells to resist mechanical and chemical attacks, contributing to our understanding of biological design principles and the development of shell-inspired protective materials.

Summary: Auditory evoked responses in reproductively active female midshipman fish are modulated by manipulations of both the saccule and the swim bladder, with implications for mate detection and localization.

Summary: Changes in BMR are principally determined by changes in the body composition of endotherms, the byproducts of which are the behavioral and ecological correlations with the availability and the expenditure of energy and other resources.

Summary: Histone deacetylases are key epigenetic modifiers in Botrylloides leachii, a tunicate capable of whole-body regeneration. HDAC activity is required for regeneration and correct gene expression in this novel model system.

Summary: Coinfection with both limited-term and lifelong bacteria induces physiological and behavioral changes in a rodent host that may make the interaction between these bacteria dynamic over time.

Summary: Dopamine can alter the concentration of neuroendocrine hormones and regulate ion and ammonia transport through intracellular signaling pathways, and additonally affect hemolymph osmolality and ammonia concentration in crustaceans.