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Blood python (Python brongersmai) strike kinematics and forces are robust to variations in substrate geometry
Highlighted Article: Blood pythons maintain high strike performance on flat surfaces by imparting rearward momentum to the posterior body and tail, using them as an inertial appendage, allowing the snake to apply high fore–aft forces without slipping, and thus exploit variable environments.
Anchor threads can double the insect flight energy absorbed by spider orb webs
Summary: The anchor threads of spider orb webs allow greater movement of the web’s capture area, increasing the amount of absorbed kinetic energy and thus improving prey capture efficacy.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Geometric latches enable tuning of ultrafast, spring-propelled movements
Summary: Tiny adjustments to geometric latches tune variation of ultrafast spring-propelled movements.
Visual detection threshold in the echolocating Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii)
Summary: The insectivorous echolocating bat Myotis daubentonii can see light levels equivalent to the luminance of terrestrial objects in an open habitat under a moonless clear starlit sky.
Gap selection and steering during obstacle avoidance in pigeons
Summary: The flight trajectories of pigeons steering through gaps between obstacles are well modelled by the same proportional navigation guidance law as describes the pursuit behaviours of birds and insects.
Hindlimb muscle spindles inform preparatory forelimb coordination prior to landing in toads
Summary: Toads may rely on hindlimb sensory information during take-off to tune their forelimb muscle activation in order to land effectively.
From quadrupedal to bipedal walking ‘on the fly’: the mechanics of dynamical mode transition in primates
Highlighted Article: Mechanical analysis of the smooth, continuous transition from a quadrupedal to bipedal locomotor mode in baboons reveals a common strategy: crouch the hind parts and sprint them underneath the rising body centre of mass.
A comparison of odor plume-tracking behavior of walking and flying insects in different turbulent environments
Summary: Walking male cockroaches and flying male moths track pheromone plumes more directly in experimental conditions more characteristic of their natural environments, i.e. low wind speed+low turbulence for walking cockroaches and higher wind speed+higher turbulence for flying moths.
Individual response in body mass and basal metabolism to the risks of predation and starvation in passerines
Summary: Wintering small birds faced with the risk of predation and starvation primarily respond by modulating energy reserves. However, wild great tits can also adjust their energy expenditure adaptively.
ECR SPOTLIGHT
CORRECTION
Celebrating 100 years of discovery

We are proud to be celebrating 100 years of discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology. Visit our centenary webpage to find out more about how we are marking this historic milestone.
Craig Franklin launches our centenary celebrations

Editor-in-Chief Craig Franklin reflects on 100 years of JEB and looks forward to our centenary celebrations, including a supplementary special issue, a new early-career researcher interview series and the launch of our latest funding initiatives.
Looking back on the first issue of JEB

Journal of Experimental Biology launched in 1923 as The British Journal of Experimental Biology. As we celebrate our centenary, we look back at that first issue and the zoologists publishing their work in the new journal.
Webinar: Increasing the visibility and impact of your research
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Would you like to increase the visibility and impact of your research and raise your profile internationally? If so, register for the very practical webinar we are running in association with HUBS on 23 February 2023.
Biology Communication Workshop: Engaging the world in the excitement of research
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We are delighted to be sponsoring a Biology Communication Workshop for early-career researchers as part of JEB’s centenary celebrations. The workshop focuses on how to effectively communicate your science to other researchers and the public and takes place the day before the CSZ annual meeting, on 14 May 2023. Find out more and apply here.
Mexican fruit flies wave for distraction

Dinesh Rao and colleagues have discovered that Mexican fruit flies vanish in a blur in the eyes of predatory spiders when they wave their wings at the arachnids, buying the flies time to make their escape.