More credit to jockeys: Scientists show the physics behind how their posture speeds the horseWASHINGTON — Over a century after a Yankee Doodle jockey revolutionized how racehorses are ridden, scientists are figuring out why a jockey’s posture speeds up the horse. Evolving robots wiggle fins, tails: swimming and slithering as prey, predators for researchPOUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Robots wag their tail fins and bob along like bathtub toys in a pool at a Vassar College lab. Their actions are dictated by microprocessors housed in round plastic containers, the sort you’d store soup in. |