The First Mechanical Gear In a Living Creature

Didnt see this posted, dont have much thoughts other then it is interesting. One thought I have is uncountable mechanical systems of biology we are aware of are far more technically inventive and complex and intricate then this, though this is interesting.

www.popularmechanics.com...

I think ive seen this on ATS before but im not sure, ive certainly read about this and it is quite amazing. With the acceleration power contained if one of the legs fires even a fraction of a second out of sync the bug will go off either left or right or if just one leg kicked probably would send it off spinning out of control heheheh

Well played nature, very clever.

reply to post by ImaFungi


That is astounding. The numbers involved are incredible, and the mere existence of this creature is a marvel. Who would have thought that such a tiny creature could contain such an interesting bio mechanism? Study of this little chap could prove very interesting to research and development departments in a whole plethora of fields!

Smashing find!!

reply to post by ImaFungi


This was posted before but is well worth another look.

From your source:

It's interesting that we humans also discovered the exact same mechanism, independently.

This reminds me about something I've often thought about: There is no fundamental difference between what is created by man and what by nature. Humans are a product of nature, so everything that we bring forth is also natural. Everything is nature, how could it not be?

soulwaxer

reply to post by Aleister


nice pic.
i was thinking of a radula

Is it just me or did anyone else have a steam punk image in their head?

Very cool though. Imagine putting 400 g's on a human. The body of that thing must be pretty much reinforced to withstand those pressures wouldn't it?

CX.

What's even crazier is that as they molt in to adults they "lose" the gears in their final growth phase.
This is why I love nature so much. Always something new, something to learn, something to make us wonder and leave us in awe.
Man we learn from too but he makes us wonder wtf and leaves us with aw...