Science vs. Silly Walks

This link popped up in my Gmail: 'Silly Walks' Dissed by Mathematicians I decided this was simply too silly NOT to share... Scientists have explained mathematically why the famous "silly walks" of Monty Python's John Cleese have never caught on in the long history of Homo sapiens. The giant, leg-twirling strides of silly walks may enable a person to leap around swiftly but are simply too expensive in metabolic energy compared to conventional locomotion, according to a paper published on Wednesday by Britain's Royal Society. Click here for more. Or visit the Silly Walk Generator here. I read the rest of the article, by the way, and it describes recent research into human locomotion, which illustrates that the typical models of human walking and running are the most energy efficient. Duh. So they tricked me into reading about a fairly dull and pointless sounding study with a cheap reference to Monty Python. I'm just too easy sometimes. But I thought this would be a fun diversion in the middle of the week.