Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) of the insect’s leg gears. Photo Credit: livescience.com
Nature is a great engineer. So many of the innovations that have propelled humankind through the ages can be found in nature. On average, a gear is one of the smallest components of almost anything that moves. These components handle everything from timing to power transfer. Humans have only been using these tools for maybe 1000 years. Scientists have discovered that nature has been using them for much much longer. The rear legs of a plant hopper are bound together using gears so that the legs spring at exactly the same time propelling the insect where it needs to go without requiring any more complicated thought. Pretty much all the great ideas can be found in nature and this is one of the reasons why biomimicry is becoming more and more popular. Read more about the discovery here
