HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
It's a bug's life: MIT team tells moving tale

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--MIT mathematicians have discovered how certain insects can climb what to them are steep, slippery slopes in the water's surface without moving their limbs -- and do it at high speed.

Welcome to the world of the tiny creatures that live on the surface of ponds, lakes and other standing bodies of water. There, "all the rules change," said David Hu, a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics and first author of a paper on the work to appear in the Sept. 29 issue of Nature.

For the last four years, Hu and John Bush, an associate professor in the department, have been studying the novel strategies these insects use to navigate their environment. To do so, they took high-speed video of the creatures using a camera provided by MIT's Edgerton Center, then digitized and analyzed the images.

In 2003, the two and Brian Chan, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, reported in Nature how some of these creatures walk on water. Both that paper and the current one were Nature cover stories.

Now Bush and Hu are describing how three species of insects are able to climb the slippery slopes, or menisci, that arise when the water surface meets land, floating bodies or emergent vegetation. Why would they want to leave the water? "There are many reasons, such as laying eggs or escaping predators," said Hu.

Menisci are all around us -- picture the slight upward curve of water in a glass where it meets the side. "But we don't notice them because they're so small, only a few millimeters in height," said Hu. But if you're a creature that's much smaller than that, those slopes "are like frictionless mountains," Hu said. "Plus, it's slippery."

In these conditions, the insects' normal modes of propulsion won't work. Hu and Bush took high-speed video of insects trying to ascend menisci with a running start and found they got partway up, then slid back down.

The solution? The creatures
'"/>

Contact: Elizabeth Thomson
thomson@mit.edu
617-258-5402
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
28-Sep-2005


Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Breathing easy: When it comes to oxygen, a bugs life is full of it
2. A bugs life: Exceptional genomic stability yet rapid protein evolution in a carpenter ant mutualist
3. A bugs life: aging and death in E. coli
4. It came from the sea: Monster crabs evolve a bugs nose
5. Lighting up life: Cold Spring Harbor Protocols presents tips for creating glowing plants
6. Selecting life: Scientists find new way to search for origin of life
7. Four questions that may save your grandmas life: SNAQ screening tool predicts weight loss
8. Satellite data to track wildlife: Elephants in space
9. Exercise pill switches on gene that tells cells to burn fat
10. Ancient coral reef tells the history of Kenyas soil erosion
11. Mapping system tells skin cells whether to become scalp, palm tissues, Stanford study finds

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: bug life MIT team tells moving tale

(Date:5/20/2013)... Colo., USA New Geology articles ... May 2013 cover a wide swath of geoscience ... oceanography, geophysics, and paleobotany. Locations studied include Siberia; ... at Alpi Apuane, Italy; Ukraine; Mars; and the ... , 1. Rubies, jadeite, and plate tectonics;, 2. ...
(Date:5/19/2013)... strain of electricity-producing bacteria that can grow using hydrogen ... as its sole source of carbon. Researchers at ... the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for ... production solely on hydrogen," says Amit Kumar, a researcher ... part of the Lovley Lab Group at the university. ...
(Date:5/18/2013)... (May 19, 2013) The AGA Research Foundation is ... Damian Augustyn Award in Digestive Cancer, which will support ... Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, as he ... pancreas development, regeneration and cancer progression. , "The AGA ... honor of two distinguished clinicians and AGA Legacy Society ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 2New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 3New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 4New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 5New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 6New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 7New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 8New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 9New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 10New in GEOLOGY: Gems, Darwin, Mars, Hemp, Snowball Earth, a Siberian Impact Crater, and More 11AGA Research Foundation grant furthers digestive cancer research 2
(Date:5/20/2013)... May 20, 2013 The World Molecular ... appointment of Lisa Baird as Executive Director. Baird ... 2013. The WMIS vision is to encompass ... understand and effectively treat diseases in the developed and ... was established in 2011 by integrating the Academy of ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... Rhinebeck, NY (PRWEB) May 17, 2013 ... by Topical BioMedics, Inc., has been listed among ... 2013 in an initiative conducted by "U.S. News" ... product has earned the “No. 1 Pharmacists ... with 17 other national OTC brands, and is ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... transplant recipient,s immune system identifies the transplanted organ as ... that T cells, the immune cells that mediate rejection, ... in order to migrate to the transplanted organ. In ... , Fadi Lakkis and colleagues at the University of ... T cells is not required for migration. Instead, these ...
(Date:5/17/2013)... 2013 The new Public-Private Partnership (PPP) ... the association’s recent annual meeting drew praise from community ... Kroes, who called the action “a huge step forward ... to European innovation.” , The Board of Stakeholders voted ... Photonics PPP at its 29 April meeting in Brussels, ...
Breaking Biology Technology:WMIS Appoints Lisa Baird as Next Executive Director 2Pharmacists' Picks: Topical BioMedics' Topricin Listed on Top Recommended OTC Health Products 2SPIE Joins in Praise for ‘Huge Step Forward’ for Innovation R&D Enabled by Photonics21 Actions 2SPIE Joins in Praise for ‘Huge Step Forward’ for Innovation R&D Enabled by Photonics21 Actions 3
Cached News: