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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Magazine article
Not too big, not too small: why modern humans are the ideal size for speed
The Conversation, Vol.31 October 2024
2024
Appears in The Conversation
Abstract
Not too big, not too small: why modern humans are the ideal size for speed https://theconversation.com/not-too-big-not-too-small-why-modern-humans-are-the-ideal-size-for-speed-241668 The fastest animal on land is the cheetah, capable of reaching top speeds of 104 kilometres per hour. In the water, the fastest animals are yellowfin tuna and wahoo, which can reach speeds of 75 and 77 km per hour respectively. In the air, the title of the fastest level flight (excluding diving) goes to the white-throated needletail swift, at more than 112 km per hour. What do all of these speedy creatures have in common? None of them are particularly big, nor particularly small for the group of animals they represent. In fact, they are all intermediately sized. The reason for this is a bit of a mystery. As animals increase in mass, several biological features change as well. For example, in general leg length steadily increases. But clearly long legs are not the answer, since the largest land animals, like elephants, are not the fastest. But my colleagues and I have taken a key step towards solving this mystery. By using a scaleable, virtual model of the human body, we were able to explore the movement of the limbs and muscles, find out what limits speed, and gain important insights into the evolution of the human form over thousands of years.
Details
- Title
- Not too big, not too small: why modern humans are the ideal size for speed
- Authors
- Christofer Clemente - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- The Conversation, Vol.31 October 2024
- Publisher
- Conversation Media Group
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.64628/AA.s6yxcfegg
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- Copyright note
- © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Grant note
- Christofer Clemente receives funding from an ARC Discovery grant (DP230101886)
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991068897002621
- Output Type
- Magazine article
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