7 ms·

An insect that has the only mechanical gears ever found in nature (2013)

101 points by cc9one 4y ago

sva_ 4y ago
The linked video is from 2013
hcrisp 4y ago
I was just thinking about this. Does folding your hands count as a gear? The interlocked fingers make for a tighter grasp. When viewed from the palm side they even look like a gear. It is not the natural state of the hands but many gears also spend time in an unmeshed state. What is the definition of a gear anyway?
- kennywinker 4y ago
  Not an expert, but I feel like interlocking your hands does not count because the definition of a gear includes rotation, and transmission of motion. Interlocked hands don't rotate and they don't transmit motion. Interlocking hands seems to me to be about grip strength. Sometimes it's easier to grip your other hand by interlocking than it is to grip the object you're lifting.
  - noxer 4y ago
    Then the "gear" from this insect would also not count as it does not transfer motion. Its more like a joint that has teeth for extra grip.
    - zimpenfish 4y ago
      > an intricate gearing system that locks their back legs together, allowing both appendages to rotate at the exact same instant That sounds like transmission of motion to me?
      - cjrp 4y ago
        If I lock my hands together, rotating one of my wrists also rotates the other wrist. I'm not saying it's a _useful_ transfer of motion though!
      - bagacrap 4y ago
        Only if one leg is pushing the other leg
        rantallion 4y ago
        > To confirm that the gears performed this function, the researchers performed a neat (albeit morbid) trick with some dead Issus. They manually cocked their legs back in a jumping position, then electrically stimulated the main jumping muscle in one leg so that the leg extended. Because it was rotationally locked by the gears, the other non-stimulated leg moved as well, and the dead insect jumped forward.
jacquesm 4y ago
Pure blogspam. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature-6480908/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-ha...
- dang 4y ago
  Ok, we've changed to that from https://canyouactually.com/first-mechanical-gear-ever-found-in-nature/ https://canyouactually.com/first-mechanical-gear-ever-found-.... Thanks!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ignoramous 4y ago
Reminds me of this pretty common but all the more spectacular: a close-up of super complex production line (gene transcription) driven by DNA strands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY / https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/7Hk9jct2ozY https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/7Hk9jct2ozY
- djmips 4y ago
  What you posted is so cool! And look at ATP synthase! wow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXpzp4RDGJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXpzp4RDGJI
- bmitc 4y ago
  Thanks for posting that. It truly is mind blowing. It makes my head hurt just thinking about how life exists and it all starting with this insanity. In computing, there's this idea of a machine that could make itself, an idea Von Neumann toyed with. And yet, here is life, which figured it out billions (if not more) years ago. Makes you wonder just what in the hell is going on in this universe. That video is seriously cool. Thanks again.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  Youtube recommended a talk by the animator, which is fascinating: https://youtu.be/qbyzEiBvbXw https://youtu.be/qbyzEiBvbXw
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  These vids always make me want to eat healthier and exercise. Don’t want to let my little subcelular machines down after all this work:(
4878241143 4y ago
Cells. Interlinked.
- baxtr 4y ago
  A tall white fountain played.
  - wanda 4y ago
    You're not even close to baseline!
hsjqllzlfkf 4y ago
[dead]
jwilk 4y ago
Previously: 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376191 (183 comments) 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8212984 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8212984 (10 comments)
unsupp0rted 4y ago
If we had never invented gears, but somehow had invented microscopes, we might've eventually stumbled on this insect and gotten the idea for mechanical gears from observing its legs. What other things on the technology tree did we skip over and might we discover out in some insect, bird or fish? We still don't know how tiny insect brains are capable of using so little energy to do so much navigation and learning+memory, right?
- midoridensha 4y ago
  >What other things on the technology tree did we skip over and might we discover out in some insect, bird or fish? Or beyond that, what fundamental physics principles have we somehow missed? Perhaps faster-than-light travel is actually really simple, and we somehow just haven't discovered it yet. Meanwhile, some much more primitive civilization elsewhere has, and is going to invade us soon with their FTL spaceships armed with... cannons equivalent to our Medieval weapons. They'll be in for a big surprise when we shoot back with guided missiles.

101 points by cc9one 4y ago

sva_ 4y ago

The linked video is from 2013

I was just thinking about this. Does folding your hands count as a gear? The interlocked fingers make for a tighter grasp. When viewed from the palm side they even look like a gear. It is not the natural state of the hands but many gears also spend time in an unmeshed state. What is the definition of a gear anyway?

kennywinker 4y ago
Not an expert, but I feel like interlocking your hands does not count because the definition of a gear includes rotation, and transmission of motion. Interlocked hands don't rotate and they don't transmit motion. Interlocking hands seems to me to be about grip strength. Sometimes it's easier to grip your other hand by interlocking than it is to grip the object you're lifting.
- noxer 4y ago
  Then the "gear" from this insect would also not count as it does not transfer motion. Its more like a joint that has teeth for extra grip.
  - zimpenfish 4y ago
    > an intricate gearing system that locks their back legs together, allowing both appendages to rotate at the exact same instant That sounds like transmission of motion to me?
    - cjrp 4y ago
      If I lock my hands together, rotating one of my wrists also rotates the other wrist. I'm not saying it's a _useful_ transfer of motion though!
    - bagacrap 4y ago
      Only if one leg is pushing the other leg
      - rantallion 4y ago
        > To confirm that the gears performed this function, the researchers performed a neat (albeit morbid) trick with some dead Issus. They manually cocked their legs back in a jumping position, then electrically stimulated the main jumping muscle in one leg so that the leg extended. Because it was rotationally locked by the gears, the other non-stimulated leg moved as well, and the dead insect jumped forward.

jacquesm 4y ago

Pure blogspam. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature-6480908/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-ha...

dang 4y ago
Ok, we've changed to that from https://canyouactually.com/first-mechanical-gear-ever-found-in-nature/ https://canyouactually.com/first-mechanical-gear-ever-found-.... Thanks!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ignoramous 4y ago

Reminds me of this pretty common but all the more spectacular: a close-up of super complex production line (gene transcription) driven by DNA strands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk9jct2ozY / https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/7Hk9jct2ozY https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/7Hk9jct2ozY

djmips 4y ago
What you posted is so cool! And look at ATP synthase! wow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXpzp4RDGJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXpzp4RDGJI
bmitc 4y ago
Thanks for posting that. It truly is mind blowing. It makes my head hurt just thinking about how life exists and it all starting with this insanity. In computing, there's this idea of a machine that could make itself, an idea Von Neumann toyed with. And yet, here is life, which figured it out billions (if not more) years ago. Makes you wonder just what in the hell is going on in this universe. That video is seriously cool. Thanks again.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
Youtube recommended a talk by the animator, which is fascinating: https://youtu.be/qbyzEiBvbXw https://youtu.be/qbyzEiBvbXw
hombre_fatal 4y ago
These vids always make me want to eat healthier and exercise. Don’t want to let my little subcelular machines down after all this work:(

4878241143 4y ago

Cells. Interlinked.

baxtr 4y ago
A tall white fountain played.
- wanda 4y ago
  You're not even close to baseline!

hsjqllzlfkf 4y ago

[dead]

jwilk 4y ago

Previously: 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6376191 (183 comments) 2014: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8212984 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8212984 (10 comments)

unsupp0rted 4y ago

If we had never invented gears, but somehow had invented microscopes, we might've eventually stumbled on this insect and gotten the idea for mechanical gears from observing its legs. What other things on the technology tree did we skip over and might we discover out in some insect, bird or fish? We still don't know how tiny insect brains are capable of using so little energy to do so much navigation and learning+memory, right?

midoridensha 4y ago
>What other things on the technology tree did we skip over and might we discover out in some insect, bird or fish? Or beyond that, what fundamental physics principles have we somehow missed? Perhaps faster-than-light travel is actually really simple, and we somehow just haven't discovered it yet. Meanwhile, some much more primitive civilization elsewhere has, and is going to invade us soon with their FTL spaceships armed with... cannons equivalent to our Medieval weapons. They'll be in for a big surprise when we shoot back with guided missiles.