In insects, fast sensory feedback from specialized mechanoreceptors is integrated with guidance cues descending from the visual system to control flight behavior. A proprioceptive sensory organ found in both locusts and moths, the wing hinge stretch receptor, has been extensively studied in locusts for its powerful influence on the activity of flight muscle motoneurons and interneurons. The str...

Physiological challenges during one part of the annual cycle can carry over and affect performance at a subsequent phase, and antioxidants could be one mediator of trade-offs between phases. We performed a controlled experiment with zebra finches to examine how songbirds use nutrition to manage trade-offs in antioxidant allocation between endurance flight and subsequent reproduction. Our treatm...

An idealized energy fluctuation model of a bird's body undergoing horizontal flapping flight is developed, focusing on the biomechanical power discernible to a body-mounted accelerometer. Expressions for flight body power constructed from root mean square dynamic body accelerations and wingstroke frequency are derived from first principles and presented in dimensionally appropriate units. As wi...

BACKGROUND Increases in stored iron and dietary intake of iron during space flight have raised concern about the risk of excess iron and oxidative damage, particularly in bone. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to perform a comprehensive assessment of iron status in men and women before, during, and after long-duration space flight and to quantify the association of iron status wit...

The purpose of a flight inspection system is to calibrate and evaluate the performance of aircraft navigation and landing aids to ensure conformance to specifications. This mission requires that the flight inspection platform have a reference position estimate significantly more accurate than that of the facility under inspection, i.e., tenths of meter accuracy over a region of many kilometers,...

The origin of avian flight is a classic macroevolutionary transition with research spanning over a century. Two competing models explaining this locomotory transition have been discussed for decades: ground up versus trees down. Although it is impossible to directly test either of these theories, it is possible to test one of the requirements for the trees-down model, that of an arboreal paravi...

1. Tethered flying locusts (Locusta migratoria) make correctional steering movements with the abdomen when stimulated with a moving artificial horizon and integrated wind jet, simulating deviation from a straight course. 2. Neurones in the metathoracic and first abdominal neuromeres of the metathoracic ganglion have been characterized morphologically and physiologically. The selective stimulati...

1. Some flight motoneurones receive two superimposed rhythms of depolarizing synaptic potentials when the locust is not flying; a slow rhythm which is invariably linked to the expiratory phase of ventilation, and a fast rhythm with a period of about 50 ms which is similar to the wingbeat period in flight. 2. By recording simultaneously from groups of motoneurones, the synaptic potentials which ...

During long-distance flights, birds catabolize not only fat but also protein. Because there is no storage form of protein, protein catabolism entails a structural or functional loss. In this study, we investigated which organs were most reduced in lean mass during different phases of fat store loss and whether protein loss can be regarded as adaptive or as a constraint. Body and organ compositi...

Aerospace In article number 2203920, Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, Sayanatani Ghosh, and co-workers report on the first long duration space flight of a metal halide perovskite photoactive layer International Space Station. Post-flight analysis reveals that samples exhibit superior photo-stability, no irreversible radiation damage, suppressed structural phase transition temperature, broadening photovo...