Woodpecker Bodies Cushion Collision Impact On Bird Brains

Originally published: Aug 25 2014 - 10:30am, Inside Science News ServiceBy: Katharine Gammon, Contributor(Inside Science) -- Woodpeckers are some of the most industrious birds in nature. Their intense tapping -- all an elaborate effort to procure food -- can happen as rapidly as 20 pecks per second, with each strike transmitting a seemingly brain-rattling force of up to 1,200 times the force of gravity at Earth's surface.Yet, despite those repetitive impacts, woodpeckers typically show none of t...