Generating high ball speed is crucial for competitive pitching performance, and lower extremity mechanics play a key role in achieving it. Yet some previous studies have reported no significant difference in ball speeds despite differences in lower extremity mechanics, highlighting the need to examine how energy is transferred through the upper extremity to the ball under these conditions. To address this, Ryota Matsuda, Yuichi Hirano, Jun Umakoshi and Arata Kimura had twenty college baseball pitchers throw with an under-stride length and an over-stride length in addition to their normal-stride length, and analyzed the mechanical energy of the upper extremity segments at key events during pitching, together with the energy flow through each joint between those events.

The energy flow results followed the same proximal-to-distal pattern seen in the segment energy measurements. During the phase from stride foot contact to maximum external rotation, the energy flow to the upper arm through the shoulder joint was greater in the normal-stride condition than in the under-stride and over-stride conditions. The same condition pattern was observed for energy transfer through the elbow and wrist joints, and for ball speed itself, indicating that the normal stride supported greater energy delivery along the entire chain from shoulder to hand in this phase.

The most revealing result emerged where ball speed did not differ. Although no statistically significant difference in ball speed was observed between the under-stride and over-stride conditions, the JFP and STP components of shoulder energy flow showed different condition patterns between them. This suggests that the composition of shoulder energy flow may differ even when no statistically significant difference is observed in total energy flow into the upper arm, meaning that comparable ball speeds can be associated with distinct energy-transfer strategies at the shoulder. The authors note that this composition-level analysis is needed when evaluating how lower extremity mechanics relate to pitching performance, rather than relying on total energy flow values alone.

Subject of Research: The composition of energy flow in the upper extremity under different lower extremity mechanics in baseball pitching

Article Title: The composition of energy flow in the upper extremity under different lower extremity mechanics in baseball pitching

Article References: Matsuda, R., Hirano, Y., Umakoshi, J., & Kimura, A. (2026). The composition of energy flow in the upper extremity under different lower extremity mechanics in baseball pitching. PLOS One, 21(10), e0361030. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361030

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0361030

Keywords: composition, energy, flow, upper, extremity, under, different, lower, mechanics, baseball, pitching, scientific research

To gather data at scale, the researchers introduced a web-based platform designed to record sequential occupancy choices in controlled restroom layouts. The team then analyzed the probabilities of transitions between configurations using a framework inspired by the Ising model, a statistical physics model. In the adapted analysis, the inferred interpersonal interactions describe patterns across occupancy data; they are not direct measurements of a person’s intentions, attitudes or social preferences.

The model also incorporated site-dependent biases, allowing systematic differences among the available urinals or toilets to be represented in the analysis. Those two components turned a sequence of individual occupancy changes into a quantitative account of collective behavior in a constrained environment. Rather than treating each choice as entirely unrelated to the surrounding activity, the model estimates relationships between the arrangement of occupied sites and the probability of subsequent configurations.

The researchers also developed a kinetic model to describe individual arrivals and departures. This model predicts the usage of each site as a function of the utilization factor. The framework further generalized across restrooms of different sizes.

According to the study, this allowed the model to predict site usage and dynamics from limited data. Although the study centers on a subject that may seem unusual for statistical mechanics, the authors present it as a demonstration of how simple local rules can produce predictable collective behavior in constrained environments. They identify waiting rooms and public transportation as broader settings in which similar modeling ideas may be relevant.

The evidence does not show that identical rules govern every crowd, and the model’s “interaction” parameters should not be interpreted as proof that nearby users consciously determine where a person chooses to stand or sit.

Subject of Research: Statistical modeling of sequential restroom-site choices in controlled layouts

Article Title: Statistical mechanics of restroom choice

Article References: Franckart, A., Luyckx, A., Araújo, N. A. M., Delens, M., Opsomer, E., & Vandewalle, N. (2026). Statistical mechanics of restroom choice. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-76128-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-76128-1

Keywords: restroom behavior, statistical mechanics, occupancy choices, Ising model, kinetic modeling, collective behavior, public spaces, behavioral science, Statistical, mechanics, restroom, choice

The central problem the researchers set out to address is a familiar one in soft materials: making a gel that is simultaneously stretchable and mechanically tunable usually requires sacrificing one property for the other. According to the authors, this limitation stems from a lack of hierarchical network design and of synergistic interactions at the interfaces between components. Their answer is a strategy they call deep eutectic solvent-mediated multiscale regulation, abbreviated DMR, which uses the solvent itself to reorganize a natural polymer across multiple length scales at once.

In this work, the team used a deep eutectic solvent to hierarchically deconstruct silk fibroin from Bombyx mori, the domestic silkworm, breaking the macroscopic protein down into structural units at the microscale, the nanoscale, and the molecular scale simultaneously. Rather than treating these fragments as waste, the researchers harnessed them as hierarchical reinforcements embedded within the polymer matrix. The resulting hybrid network is held together by multiple hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions between the silk-derived building blocks and the solvent system. Because the reinforcement operates at several scales rather than one, the mechanical behavior of the final eutectogel can be adjusted broadly, which is what produces the unusually wide span in strength and stiffness. The authors also report excellent ionic conductivity and multifunctionality in the materials, properties that matter for soft electronics, where a gel must often carry signals as well as survive repeated deformation.

To understand why the networks behave this way, the team combined molecular dynamics simulations with spectroscopic analyses. The simulations and spectra provide evidence, the authors write, supporting the proposed multiscale interfacial interaction mechanisms, that is, the idea that cooperative hydrogen bonding and electrostatic attraction across different structural scales are what stabilize the hybrid network and enable its tunability. The applications demonstrated remain at the proof-of-concept stage, and the authors are careful to frame them that way. The wearable sensor was designed to be ultra-conformable, meaning it can laminate closely to skin or other curved surfaces, and was used for physiological monitoring. The triboelectric nanogenerator was engineered to bear load while harvesting energy, pointing toward self-powered systems in which the structural material itself generates electricity.

The authors position the multiscale composite design approach as a promising route toward versatile biomass-based hybrid materials generally, with potential utility in flexible electronics and energy-harvesting devices. The breadth of mechanical tunability reported here, spanning from gels soft enough for conformable wearables to materials stiff enough to bear load in an energy harvester, gives the DMR strategy an unusually wide design space, and the demonstration of both sensing and energy-harvesting functions in a single material family shows how far that space reaches in this study.

Subject of Research: Deep eutectic solvent-mediated multiscale silk fibroin hybrid eutectogels with broadly tunable mechanics for flexible electronics and energy harvesting

Article Title: Deep eutectic solvent-mediated multiscale silk fibroin hybrid eutectogels with broadly tunable mechanics for flexible electronics and energy harvesting

Article References: Zhang, M., Shuai, Y., Wan, Q., Wang, J., Xu, Z., Yu, J., Wu, Q., Cai, J., Zheng, T., Zhu, J., & Yang, M. (2026). Deep eutectic solvent-mediated multiscale silk fibroin hybrid eutectogels with broadly tunable mechanics for flexible electronics and energy harvesting. Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-026-02138-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s42114-026-02138-2

Keywords: Deep, eutectic, solvent-mediated, multiscale, silk, fibroin, hybrid, eutectogels, broadly, tunable, mechanics, flexible