Manta rays are amazing and efficient swimmers — a necessity for any large animal that survives on tiny plankton. Researchers have built a new soft robot inspired by swimming mantas. Keep reading
Tag: swimming
Paris 2024: Coordinating the Front-Crawl
Of all the swimming strokes humans have invented, none is faster or more efficient than the front-crawl. That’s why all competitors use it in freestyle events, and why it’s the Keep reading
Paris 2024: Triathlon Swimming
Unlike the swimming competition, Olympic triathletes complete their swim legs in open waters. There are no lane dividers and no rules against drafting off a fellow athlete. Curious to see Keep reading
Paris 2024: Swimsuit Tech
The aughts were an exciting time to watch competitive swimming. Records were falling left and right, especially in 2008 and 2009. The first wave of improvements came around 2000, with Keep reading
Universal Wingbeats
Eagles, butterflies, and whales don’t appear to have much in common, but a new study shows that they — along with over 400 other flying and swimming animals of all Keep reading
Eel-Like Swimming
Working with living creatures can’t always reveal their mechanics. That’s one reason engineers like building biorobots. Here, researchers built 1-guilla, an eel-like swimmer, and studied how its body motions affected Keep reading
Ciliary Pathlines
For tiny creatures, swimming through water requires techniques very different than ours. Many, like this sea urchin larva, use hair-like cilia that they beat to push fluid near their bodies. Keep reading
Swimming Through Mud
At the bottom of ponds, nematodes and other creatures swim in a world of mud. They squirm their way through a sediment of dirt particles suspended in water. Mud, of Keep reading
Fish Fins Work Together
Researchers studying how fish swim have long focused on their tail fins and the flows created there. But a fish’s other fins have important effects, too, as seen in this Keep reading
Swimming Intermittently
Many fish do not swim continuously; instead, they use an intermittent motion, swimming in a sudden burst and then coasting. This intermittent swimming is tough to simulate, due to its Keep reading