The first Gear discovered in Nature

by veya_victaous Thu Oct 03, 2013 11:59 pm

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/the-first-gear-discovered-in-nature-15916433

"With two diminutive legs locked into a leap-ready position, the tiny jumper bends its body taut like an archer drawing a bow. At the top of its legs, a minuscule pair of gears engage—their strange, shark-fin teeth interlocking cleanly like a zipper. And then, faster than you can blink, think, or see with the naked eye, the entire thing is gone. In 2 milliseconds it has bulleted skyward, accelerating at nearly 400 g's—a rate more than 20 times what a human body can withstand. At top speed the jumper breaks 8 mph—quite a feat considering its body is less than one-tenth of an inch long. "

See the GIFs down the bottom of the article the really show it well.

by Ben Reilly Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:26 am

That's amazing -- basically a bio-mechanical mechanism evolving naturally.

And they say all the cool discoveries have already been made!

The first Gear discovered in Nature

The first Gear discovered in Nature

Re: The first Gear discovered in Nature