Jymesion wrote:
On Fri, 09 Aug 2013 09:29:41 +0100, Jeff Layman
wrote:

It's interesting that nature didn't come up with the wheel, one of
the most energy-efficient ways of moving around (or did I read a few
years ago that there was some strange organism which could move like
a wheel?

That's a question which comes up frequently.

There's an interesting paper on it at:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.230... 102539587717

The current consensus is that the main problem with biological wheels
is blood flow, but this author addresses a different argument.

I haven't seen this article, I will have a look time permitting. One reason
a wheel is not much use for transport biologically is that they require
roads to be efficient. Legs are much better on broken ground and can be
adapted to climbing, become wings, flippers etc.

Also have a look at the bacterial flaggelum, it isn't a wheel that supports
weight for transport but it does rotate and it is powered by biochemistry.

David