SML > Research People > John Hutchinson
Research Interests
General Interests
- Locomotor biomechanics and evolution
- Palaeobiology/evolutionary biology
- Computer simulation and dynamic analysis of locomotion
- Systematics/phylogenetics, especially as it relates to the evolution of form and function
- Musculoskeletal anatomy, homology and pathology
- Three-dimensional studies of anatomy and mechanics
- Integration of theoretical and empirical approaches
- Experimental validation/testing of computer simulations
- Sensitivity analysis of unknown modelling parameters
- Scaling of anatomy, function and performance (especially deviations from main trends, e.g. at large sizes)
- Evolutionary biomechanics of large land animals: how and why do stance, gait and speed change with size?
- Finite element analysis of tissue mechanics
- Limits of functional and anatomical reconstruction in extinct animals
- The biomechanics of bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion
- Dinosaur biology (including extant birds)
- Crocodile biology (including fossil archosaurs/crocodylomorphs)
- Elephant biology (including extinct proboscideans)
- Sub-optimal organismal design (PDF)
Specific Interests
(most of these are current projects, some with capacity for new collaborations, especially students and postdocs/fellowships; many are with collaborators - see Links for details)
- The musculoskeletal anatomy of elephants and other large land animals
- How do animal feet function in gait, and how does this relate to pathology?
- The biomechanics of locomotion in broiler chickens, and the evolution of domestic chickens
- Locomotor ontogeny and intraspecific scaling in land animals (e.g. birds, crocodiles, elephants)
- The origin and evolution of terrestrial locomotion in vertebrates (i.e., tetrapods)
- The influence of size (e.g. dwarfing, gigantism) on elephant biomechanics
- How tyrannosaurs and other theropod dinosaurs stood and moved
- The evolution of locomotion in archosaurian reptiles, especially theropod dinosaurs (on the line to birds)
- The evolutionary biomechanics of bounding and galloping gaits in crocodylians
- The locomotor biomechanics of ratite birds, rhinoceroses, horses, and other tetrapods of medium-large size
- Estimation of body mass, center of mass, and mass moments of inertia in extinct animals (esp. dinosaurs)
- How animals sit down and stand up
- How long do muscle fibers need to be in terrestrial vertebrates?
- How limb muscle moment arms change with posture (and anatomical modelling assumptions)
See also:
Elephant research
- Do elephants have six toes? (2011 Science paper explanatory webpage)
- Biomechanical research reveals that elephants move like 4x4 vehicles (2010 PNAS paper explanatory webpage)
- Are fast moving elephants really running? (2003 Nature paper explanatory webpage)
Dinosaur research
- How the evolution of dinosaur body shape and anatomy influenced the mechanics of bipedalism and flight in birds- information here and here. See us in action with our research in this video!
- Dr Peter Falkingham and Prof. Steve Gatesy on dinosaur track formation and evolution (story here)
- Three-dimensional computer modelling study shows how Tyrannosaurus rex grew (2011 PLoS One paper explanatory webpage)
- Tyrannosaurus was not a fast runner (2002 Nature paper explanatory webpage)
- Dinosaur locomotion: beyond the bones (2006 Nature paper explanatory webpage)
- Theropod Biomechanics at the American Museum of Natural History's ‘Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries’ (12 May 2005-present) exhibit; consultant.
Other research
- The evolution and biomechanics of sesamoid (tendon-anchoring) bones in vertebrate limbs. More information here and here. (2013 Nature paper explanatory pages)
- Particle accelerator 3D imaging of skeletal morphology in early tetrapods (2013 Nature paper explanatory pages)
- Assessing the limb mobility of the early four-legged vertebrate animal Ichthyostega (2012 Nature paper explanatory webpage)
- Biomechanics of mammalian feet (also this video and this BBC news story)
- Biomechanics of broiler chickens
- How early amniotes or reptiles moved (University of Jena collaboration, including Vivian Allen)