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Related Concept Videos

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Nine muscles are involved in arm movements. Two of these, the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi, originate from the axial skeleton and are called axial muscles. The other seven originate from the scapula and are called the scapular muscles.
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The muscles of the forearm that move the wrist, hand, and digits are numerous and diverse. They can be classified into two groups based on their location and function — the anterior and posterior compartment muscles.
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Unsymmetric Bending01:18

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Unsymmetrical bending occurs when the bending moment applied to a structural member does not align with its principal axis. This misalignment leads to complex stress distributions and deflection patterns that differ from those in symmetrical bending, and are essential for designing structures to withstand different loading conditions. In unsymmetrical bending, the neutral axis—where stress is zero—does not necessarily align with the geometric axes of the cross-section. The...
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Axial and Appendicular Muscles01:18

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Skeletal muscles, the key players in our body's movement, can be classified into two groups based on their location and function: axial muscles and appendicular muscles. These classifications reflect the primary roles the muscles play in the body's structure and movement.
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Design Example: Frog Muscle Response01:14

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A student is tasked to work on an intriguing experiment involving an RL (Resistor-Inductor) circuit to study the muscle response of a frog's leg to electrical stimulation. The RL circuit plays a crucial role in this experiment, providing the means to control and measure the electrical impulses that trigger muscle contraction.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Establishing an Octopus Ecosystem for Biomedical and Bioengineering Research
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Establishing an Octopus Ecosystem for Biomedical and Bioengineering Research

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Octopus arms exhibit exceptional flexibility.

E B Lane Kennedy1, Kendra C Buresch2, Preethi Boinapally3

  • 1Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL St, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA. eb.lane.kennedy@gmail.com.

Scientific Reports
|December 1, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Octopus arms exhibit remarkable flexibility, capable of bending, twisting, elongating, and shortening in all directions. This comprehensive analysis reveals the diverse movements underlying octopus arm function and motor control.

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Area of Science:

  • Marine Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Robotics

Background:

  • Octopus arms are widely considered highly flexible, but a detailed, quantitative analysis of their deformation capabilities across all segments is lacking.
  • Understanding octopus arm mechanics is crucial for insights into invertebrate locomotion and the development of bio-inspired soft robotics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To comprehensively investigate and quantify the diversity of arm deformations in the octopus (Octopus bimaculoides).
  • To analyze how different arm regions contribute to overall arm movement and function.

Main Methods:

  • Frame-by-frame observational analysis of laboratory video footage of octopuses performing various tasks.
  • Categorization and quantification of over 16,500 observed arm deformations, including bending, torsion, elongation, and shortening.

Main Results:

  • All eight octopus arms demonstrated capability for all four basic deformation types (bending, torsion, elongation, shortening) along their entire length and in all directions.
  • Bending was the most frequent deformation, but the proximal arm segments showed proportionally more shortening and elongation compared to bending.
  • Octopus arms primarily function to bring the sucker-lined oral surface into contact with surfaces.

Conclusions:

  • The study confirms the exceptional and versatile flexibility of octopus arms.
  • Findings provide a foundational dataset for future research into octopus arm motor control and the engineering of advanced soft robotic systems.