Snake locomotion

How do snakes move without legs? It took a team of mathematicians to figure out that the secret is in the snakes' scales. Check out this video to hear from the researchers themselves.

[@LeafyGreenDA]

I swear all of these snake movement documentaries have the same script.

[@tayereiss]

yup

[@tayereiss]

and i swear so many of these comments are alts

[@NSFScience]

@QwertyTSecond - I'm glad you found the project useful. As for our use of 'math' on this side of the pond, I've always thought it's a bit like describing every tongue spoken on Earth as 'language.' That said, in your opinion, do you think conceptualizing it as 'maths' helps people better understand the complexity and beauty of mathematics?

[@himansusekhardas9749]

Are you mad ?

[@Niphern]

very good animation reference!

[@Fledhyris]

Brilliant research, in hindsight it seems so obvious yet I've owned a snake myself, and have a degree in biology, and never thought of this or heard it on any wildlife documentary. The stomach muscles, differential weight distribution and scale friction all work together, as you say, much like any legged animal. Fascinating! Also I stumbled across this while trying to research snake locomotion for my 5 year old :) I think he was less interested than me *g*

[@tanevivan]

Very nice video, thanks for sharing! I have done some simulated evolution of locomotion of snakes without anisotropic friction (e.g., either without scales, or with scales but on a loose surfaces on which they cannot provide significant anisotropy of the friction), and sidewinding emerges in a way much similar to the natural sidewinders (e.g., crotalus cerastes). Anyway, thanks again!

[@nishantchatterjee3049]

thanks for sharing!

[@noorrandhawa1536]

the snake was stuck in the printer :(

[@Remus1033]

poor snek :(

[@crohkorthreetoes3821]

Better, .... thanks for running the animated vector model.

[@elvanvilla]

that was a good video, thanks

[@willboydssciencestewardship]

Lots of design language here, which I think is interesting. How is nature capable of designing something? Great video!

[@NSFScience]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@djcomfyfroggywitch]

Dang I was enjoying a cool video and then they started talking about a poor snake getting stuck in a printer! Way to shatter the vibe guys!!

[@NorthernGate777]

Thanks for the video

[@Whammytap]

I myself only discovered the linguistic difference of "math" and "maths" while reading Stoppard's "Arcadia" last night. Yet another division by common language! I prefer 'maths,' now that I've heard the term. Have you ever watched a snake slowly crusing in a straight line along a smooth, flat surface? Their stomach muscles undulate in a way that calls to mind a millipede's legs. I used to marvel at my boa constrictor this way. Thanks for uploading, very informative video!

[@himanthkumarmanne7248]

how was that animation done?

[@shashiram7266]

Cool

[@ElGuero05]

then how do scale less snakes move?

[@CrimMayaGames]

my guess is they flex their belly muscles + weight distribution

[@MajikkaniHand]

Snakes that are bred to be scaleless still tend to have scales on their bellies.

[@morteparla6926]

Most scaleless snakes retain scales on their bellies.

[@iamnovox1126]

useful in my note making on animal locomation.

[@viniciuslutador813]

The snake's daughter is gentle but the old and evil snake hugs

[@QwertyTSecond]

It's maths! MATHS! Gah, American English will be the death of me. Anyway, back to the land of the sane; I found this very useful. I'm going to be building a snake robot as my final year project, and emulating how they move in nature is so much easier than making a new method. Why reinvent the wheel, eh?

[@BlGGESTBROTHER]

I bet you sniff your own farts.

[@himansusekhardas9749]

Are you mad ?

[@SeLf-Made_DeTecTive]

Snakes r terrifying 😱

[@QwertyTSecond]

@VideosatNSF @VideosatNSF Very true, yes, it is a trivial matter, and neither really does mathematics justice. I've always seen it as maths due to it being a collection of smaller subject areas, but then, viewed as a whole, math is equally logical. Well, enough of me going off on a linguaphobic tangent. Viewed mathematically, this could be represented by two sinusoidal waveforms at 90 degrees to one another and in phase, I believe?

[@himansusekhardas9749]

Are you mad ?

[@bourbakis]

Great stuff!

[@meepk633]

SNAKE SOCK SNAKE SOCK AHHHH ITS A SNAKE SOCK

[@azuretao]

i have no idea what's happening

[@keveakshipsail9073]

They always wiggle left first. Snake behavior.

[@juiceforhim]

Why doesn't this have more views? It's NSF

[@wes9627]

Maybe because most people are afraid of snakes?

[@vennilamaran3285]

Nice

[@LeafyGreenDA]

Also, we could just all agree to call it "mathematics" and everyone's problem is solved. ;'D *several years late*

[@no-e-se6331]

0:44

[@BlGGESTBROTHER]

Stop calling it a "design". That just giving intelligent design proponents ammo.

[@coldneonwolfy2226]

What are you doing here brother

[@opfragile]

ehehe wiggle wiggle

[@iamnovox1126]

HA david poo