Good dancer

1996/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

The
light dancer in the image above is not Nureiev or Antonio, of course. And of course, he is not dancing the Swan Lake. Basiliscus, a small lizart-shaped animal (Basiliscus basiliscus is its exact scientific name), and scientists study can run on water. To do this, a team of researchers from Harvard University has had to travel to Costa Rica, where our friend resides.

A great dancer and runner who seems not to sink with an effect similar to that of air lubricants. The legs are very fast and between the foot and the surface of the water is formed an air cushion. The pressure difference between the water surface and the air allows not to sink the basilica. The researchers have reached this conclusion by decomposing and reconstructing the movements of the basilica in sequences of images. The next step in this research is to analyze whether the reader, the human being, may or may not perform similar phenomena.

And is it that, based on the same system that the basilisk uses, will the man manage to run on his own on the water? They say yes, but for this the 80 kg runner should circulate at 30 meters per second. And meanwhile, without worrying about those calculations, the good dancer of basilis is there, revealing our disabilities.