29 March 2014

Blowfly Flight Motor ~ In Vivo Microtomo Imaging!

Thanks to io9's George Dvorsky for spotting new PLOS Biology research article In Vivo Time-Resolved Microtomography Reveals the Mechanics of the Blowfly Flight Motor...
"Here we present the results of a synchrotron-based study performing micrometre-resolution, time-resolved microtomography on the 145 Hz wingbeat of blowflies. These data represent the first four-dimensional visualizations of an organism's internal movements on sub-millisecond and micrometre scales. This technique allows us to visualize and measure the three-dimensional movements of five of the largest steering muscles, and to place these in the context of the deforming thoracic mechanism that the muscles actuate. Our visualizations show that the steering muscles operate through a diverse range of nonlinear mechanisms, revealing several unexpected features that could not have been identified using any other technique."
Amazing work by the researchers, including Simon Walker, Daniel Schwyn, Rajmund Mokso, Martina Wicklein, Tonya Müller, Michael Doube, Marco Stampanoni, Holger Krapp, Graham Taylor! Here's the experimental setup... http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001823

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