Animal's Zigzag Movements Increase Stability and Maneuverability

Animals zig-zagging along a path -- be it a lizard sashaying back-and-forth on a wall or a cockroach sidling along the floor -- have long baffled biologists because the movements seem wasteful and inefficient. Why not just move in a straight line? A multi-institutional team of researchers has found an answer to the question: It's not nearly as inefficient as it seems; doing so allows the animals to increase both stability and maneuverability, which is something engineers often describe as impossible.