According to the Verge, the glassy-winged sharpshooter bug is so impressive that when it pees, it may inspire better water-resistant designs for devices.
This was first noticed by Saad Bhamla, who is an assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at Georgia Tech, as he was in his vegetable garden. The insect comes up with round and neat droplets of pee that the creature butt-flicks at a remarkable speed.
He then took out his iPhone to snap some shots of the phenomenon. As he zoomed in further, he realized that the creature was performing something intriguing and interesting.
Peeing is undoubtedly important for sharpshooters. The Smithsonian Magazine reports that the creatures spend a huge chunk of their time peeing because their diet is filled with xylem sap, which is a substance that holds small amounts of nutrients and minerals. The creatures may take in up to 300 times their body weight in xylem sap. Because the substance is composed of 99% water, the creatures will keep the excreting liquid.
While other bugs also feed on xylem sap, they pee by coming up with jet streams. The sharpshooter has a different method that is more efficient when it comes to energy. This was based on the study that Bhamla and colleagues published in the Nature Communications journal.
Butt-Flicker and Superpropulsion
According to their findings, the sharpshooters twist an area of their anus to propel the droplets of pee at high speeds. The energy expenditure of such a process is four to eight times less compared to creating a jet stream.
The researchers' observations showed that the insects had a special anal-style appendage. This was dubbed "butt flicker" by the scientists. When the creature needed to pee, it opened and twisted the anal stylus for a pee droplet to form. When the droplet reached a good size, the anal stylus twisted it back even further. It then lunged the droplet far from the body at a remarkably fast speed.
The pee droplets had a 40% faster speed compared to the anal stylus when it catapulted the droplets toward the air. This was a surprise for the researchers as they realized that they had found proof for superpropulsion.
According to the Verge, such a phenomenon has not been previously documented in a biological system. In such a phenomenon, the projectile has a faster speed compared to the device that launches it. The matter is significantly determined by timing. The pee droplets got compressed through the anal stylus, which stored energy until it launched.
To understand such a phenomenon, one can think of an Olympic diver who will jump to receive maximal resonant energy from the board.
Superpropulsion has been previously experimented on in labs. However, sharpshooters had the idea long before the phenomenon was experimented on.
The Smithsonian Magazine states that such findings could help with problems that humanity faces. This may assist engineers in figuring out water removal procedures from electronics. It could also help with the development of systems for defogging.
Miriam Ashley-Ross, who serves as the biology program director for the National Science Foundation, says that though the study's subject may appear whimsical, it is from studies like this that one may learn more about the physical processes that take place at varying scales outside of typical human experience.
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