Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Climbing represents a critical behavior in the context of primate evolution. However, anatomically modern human populations are considered ill-suited for climbing, likely attributed to the evolution of striding bipedalism that redirected anatomical traits away from efficient climbing. The study by Young and colleagues (jeb247012) demonstrates that climbing force profiles are remarkably stereotyped across humans and unaffected by climbing experience. Compared with eight species of non-human primates (here, a ring-tailed lemur), humans exhibit greater hindlimb dominance and extreme functional differentiation between the forelimbs and hindlimbs. These data may help explain the evolution of bipedalism in ancestrally climbing hominoids. Photo credit: David Haring, Duke Lemur Center.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
COMMENTARY
Specific dynamic action: the energy cost of digestion or growth?
Summary: This Commentary summarises conflicting perspectives on the relationship between the specific dynamic action (SDA) and animal growth, and proposes research directions aimed at determining the nature of the SDA.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
A thermal performance curve perspective explains decades of disagreements over how air temperature affects the flight metabolism of honey bees
Highlighted Article: Decades of discrepancies and disagreements regarding whether air temperature affects the flight metabolism of honey bees can be reconciled by considering the thermal performance curve of flight muscle.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Spatiotemporal modulation of a common set of muscle synergies during unpredictable and predictable gait perturbations in older adults
Summary: The flexible recruitment of the four well-known muscle synergies responsible for unperturbed walking during unpredictable and predictable gait perturbations indicates an effective way to counteract locomotor perturbations, where fast reactive responses are necessary to maintain postural stability.
Highland deer mice support increased thermogenesis in response to chronic cold hypoxia by shifting uptake of circulating fatty acids from muscles to brown adipose tissue
Highlighted Article: High-altitude native deer mice increase brown adipose tissue fatty acid uptake to support maximal heat production following acclimation to cold hypoxic conditions.
Circadian coupling of mitochondria in a deep-diving mammal
Highlighted Article: A functional clockwork and circadian variation in mitochondrial complex I efficiency is demonstrated in skin fibroblasts from the deep-diving hooded seal.
Turbidity drives plasticity in the eyes and brains of an African cichlid
Highlighted Article: The relative sizes of visual features in an African cichlid respond plastically to turbidity during development; for older fish, parental population drives the response of visual traits to turbidity.
Male and female syringeal muscles exhibit superfast shortening velocities in zebra finches
Summary: Zebra finch vocal muscle exhibits superfast shortening velocities that correlate with isometric performance. The low power output highlights the importance of high-frequency operation in muscles modulating vocal output.
Ultraviolet vision in anemonefish improves colour discrimination
Summary: A UV component of colour signals and cues improves detectability in anemonefish, which likely increases the prominence of their body patterns for communication and the silhouette of zooplankton prey.
Comparative kinetics of humans and non-human primates during vertical climbing
Summary: Despite an arboreal evolutionary history, humans display unique climbing characteristics compared with non-human primates; namely, extreme functional differentiation between forelimbs and hindlimbs and a hindlimb-powered gait.
Skipping without and with hurdles in bipedal macaque: global mechanics
Summary: During fast bipedal locomotion macaques prefer to skip; the leg torque differs between the trailing and leading leg but not the transmitted impulses. Double support is crucial for the jump.
ECR SPOTLIGHTS
CORRECTIONS
Announcing the 2024 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner
Every year JEB celebrates early-career researchers through the Outstanding Paper Prize. We recognise the shortlisted ECRS that contributed to 11 remarkable studies published in 2024 and congratulate the winner, Elise Laetz, from University of Groningen. See how else JEB supports and promotes ECRs.
Inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with Hans-Otto Pörtner
During the past two decades, Hans-Otto Pörtner has steered climate change policy as a co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II. He tells us about the experience in this Perspective.
Photosynthesis turns symbiotic sea anemone's tentacles toward sun
Snakelocks sea anemones point their tentacles, packed with symbiotic algae, toward the sun so their lodgers can photosynthesize, and now Vengamanaidu Modepalli & colleagues have discovered that photosynthesis by the algae guides their host's tentacles towards the sun.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about JEB’s history and explore the journey of each of our sister journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
