Jesty has published in the areas of both biochemistry and applied mathematics in Biochemistry, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and many other journals. He is also an associate editor of the journal Haemostasis. Quantitative methods are essential tools in comparative analyses of form and function, and experimental approaches provide crucial information. Analyses of biomechanical scaling and relative growth continue on different aspects of the locomotor skeleton, including limb proportions, articular shape and cross-sectional geometry in prosimians, monkeys, and hominoids. Growth-related changes in bone shape and positional behavior provide valuable clues for understanding the functional significance of adult form.
Fieldwork continues in Madagascar.
New species continue to be discovered and diagnosed, and improved reconstructions of paleo-communities are now possible. A temporal framework is also emerging that is relevant to the extinction of Malagasy, large-bodied primates. Functional analyses focus on the dental microwear, cross-sectional geometry, and the biomechanics of hands and feet. He has lectured widely and published numerous technical papers in these areas, including the IEEE tutorial book on Volume Visualization. He has been the papers chair and program cochair for Visualization 1990-1994 and the chairman of the IEEE CS Technical Committee on Computer Graphics.