FYFD

Tag: superpropulsion

  • Featured Video Play Icon

    Sharpshooters

    The sharpshooter‘s superpower is pee flinging. These insects consume nutrient-poor plant sap, so to get the calories they need, they have to drink 300 times their body weight each day. All that extra liquid has to go somewhere, so the sharpshooter evolved to be an expert excretor. Each drop gathers on their anal stylus, then gets launched with an energy-efficient flick. During that move, the sharpshooter compresses the droplet, adding a little extra energy that helps speed up the drop’s flight once launched. (Video and image credit: Deep Look)

  • Featured Video Play Icon

    Pee-Flinging Sharpshooters

    The tiny glassy-winged sharpshooter feeds exclusively on nutrient-poor sap from plant xylem. Since the sap is 95% water, the insects have to consume massive amounts, necessitating lots of urination — up to 300 times their body weight each day! With so much urine to get rid of and so little energy to spare, the sharpshooter has developed an ingenious, low-energy method to expel its waste. The insect forms a droplet on its anal stylus and flings it. A recent study reveals just how clever the insect’s method is.

    Researchers found that sharpshooters fling their droplets 40% faster than their stylus moves. This superpropulsion is only possible because the stylus’s motion is finely tuned to the droplet’s elasticity. Essentially, the insects achieve single-shot resonance with every throw. The energy-savings for the insects is substantial; researchers estimate that making a jet of urine instead would cost four to eight more times energy. (Video credit: Georgia Tech; image and research credit: E. Challita et al.; via Ars Technica; submitted by Kam-Yung Soh)