Animal locomotion is the result of complex and multi-layered interactions between the
nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system and the environment. Decoding the underlying …

Interest in emulating the properties of biological muscles that allow for fast adaptability and
control in unstructured environments has motivated researchers to develop new soft …

Whether an animal is trying to escape from a predator, avoid a fall or perform a more
mundane task, the effectiveness of its sensory feedback is constrained by sensorimotor …

Locomotion has influenced the ecology, evolution, and extinction of species throughout
history, yet studying locomotion in the fossil record is challenging. Computational …

Cursorial ground birds are paragons of bipedal running that span a 500-fold mass range
from quail to ostrich. Here we investigate the task-level control priorities of cursorial birds by …

Outside laboratory conditions and human-made structures, animals rarely encounter flat
surfaces. Instead, natural substrates are uneven surfaces with height variation that ranges …

Muscle function during movement is more than a simple, linear transformation of neural
activity into force. The classic work loop technique has pioneered our understanding of …

Skeletal muscles share many common, highly conserved features of organization at the
molecular and myofilament levels, giving skeletal muscle fibers generally similar and …

Highlights•Neural computation is inherently closed-loop.•Recent advances afford the
experimental opening and closing of feedback loops.•Control theory facilitates comparative …

The arrangement and physiology of muscle fibres can strongly influence musculoskeletal
function and whole-organismal performance. However, experimental investigation of muscle …