Sandfish lizard slithers into science spotlight

In less than a second, a sandfish lizard can dig its way into the sand and disappear. Blink and you miss it. The sandfish's slithering moves are inspiring new robotic moves that could one day help search-and-rescue crews ...

Free-runners explore orang-utans' ease in the trees

University of Birmingham scientists are using parkour athletes - also known as free runners - to discover how orang-utans and other tree-dwelling primates maximise energy efficiency as they move through the forest canopy.

Rio Tinto plans world-first driverless rail network

Miner Rio Tinto will use driverless trains to deliver its iron ore to ports in Western Australia in what it said Monday will be the world's first automated, long-distance, heavy-haul rail network.

Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots

Designing an all-terrain robot for search-and-rescue missions is an arduous task for scientists. The machine must be flexible enough to move over uneven surfaces, yet not so big that it's restricted from tight spaces. It ...

A small step for lungfish, a big step for the evolution of walking

(Phys.org) —The eel-like body and scrawny "limbs" of the African lungfish would appear to make it an unlikely innovator for locomotion. But its improbable walking behavior, newly described by University of Chicago scientists, ...

How early reptiles moved

Jena (Germany) Modern scientists would have loved the sight of early reptiles running across the Bromacker near Tambach-Dietharz (Germany) 300 million years ago. Unfortunately this journey through time is impossible. But ...

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