This natural technology series has already looked at the
high tech engineering of the bacterium and the virus.
Here is another miracle of the natural world,
this time being more remarkable for its mechanical engineering design than its
organizational complexity.
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| From http://www.scienceupdate.com/2014/06/was |
Certain types of female insects are required to be able to deposit their eggs in plants and they do this via an ovipositor, a tube at the end of their abdomen. Sometimes it is necessary to drill through very hard structures.
See the Journal of
Experimental Biology of 28 May 2014:
In the case of the parasitic fig wasp the ovipositor has to
penetrate the wall of an unripe fig in order that eggs can be placed in a conducive
environment. This wall is very tough and yet the wasp has devised a solution in
the form of a hollow tube which is
- Thinner than a human hair
- Highly flexible and very long in relation to the body of the wasp
- Indented with teeth-like structures
- Strong enough to resist repeated bending
- Very hard at the tip
- Spoon-shaped at the tip for pollination
The hardness is about the same as acrylic dental cement and this is achieved by
the incorporation of zinc atoms into the tip, similar in form and function to a
drill bit. The tissue behind the bit is constructed to absorb energy while allowing the ovipositor to be
steered as it bores. It can bend and
flex without breaking, a combination of properties achieved by a three part
anatomy. The three parts slide along each other’s lengths and are connected by
rail guides using dovetail joints, an arrangement which allows the needle to
pierce tissue and cut it.
One of the mechanical engineers studying this organ points
out that its design could lead to microscopic
boring tools, needles, and probes, including ones that could be useful for
minimally invasive surgeries. Man copying nature, a recurrent theme in modern
engineering.
It is also apparent that when mechanical engineers look at nature
they achieve insights that would not be revealed to the average biologist. They see
nature in ways that may not be noticed by those indoctrinated with the dogma that
design in nature is only an illusion, since all is purported to be driven purely
by random mutations and selection pressure, a view that becomes increasingly
untenable each day as new insights are made into how nature works.
John Sears
Author 2077: Knights of Peace
