Vertebrate animals exploit the elastic properties of their tendons in several different ways. Firstly, metabolic energy can be saved in locomotion if tendons stretch and then recoil, storing and returning elastic strain energy, as the animal loses and regains kinetic energy. Leg tendons save energy in this way when birds and mammals run, and an aponeurosis in the back is also important in gallo...

In the last two decades, respiratory muscle function in patients has received considerable attention, particularly since ROUSSOS and MACKLEM [1] hypothesized that respiratory muscle fatigue may be responsible for the development of respiratory failure. Although subsequent research has hitherto largely failed to demonstrate the frequent occurrence of respiratory muscle fatigue [2], it is now cle...

We are far more likely to arrive at our destination if we know what it is. For those of us who are interested in how muscles work, the destination is the progressive unification of our knowledge of the physics, chemistry and structure at all levels of muscular systems. The same integration is needed to understand other organs, but in my opinion the field of muscle research has progressed furthe...