Emily McParland, Dr. Ross, and colleagues publish a new paper on rat chewing kinematics

Emily McParland, Dr. Ross and colleagues, including lab alumni JD Laurence-Chasen and Kazutaka Takahashi, have published a new paper on the kinematics of chewing in the Wistar brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). This paper arose out of the fruitful collaboration between Dr. Ross’s lab at the University of Chicago and Dr. Nicholas Gidmark’s lab at Knox College. Because this species has an unfused mandibular symphysis, the kinematics are quite complex. The paper finds that due to the complexity, the rat is an unsuitable species in many cases for studying general mammalian chewing evolution or human chewing.

Dr. Ross publishes paper on primate muscle fiber measurement with Dr. Andrea Taylor and colleagues

Dr. Ross is a coauthor on Dr. Andrea Taylor’s new paper on muscle fiber measurement techniques in strepsirrhine and platyrrhine primates. Evidence from this paper suggests that different techniques produce different results, and therefore the purpose of the study should be considered when considering which technique to use.