Exoskeleton

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Weaver ants are a mean bunch. They’re not very big, but they’re highly aggressive and extremely territorial. Their main weapons are a pair of ferocious jaws; after they bite they also like to spray formic acid into the wound, just to be jerks. They go after other insects with particular…

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Smithsonian Institution has discovered a dense layer of biogenic high-magnesium calcite in the exoskeletons of major workers of the leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex echinatior; they’ve also found that this armor accumulates rapidly as ant workers mature and that the biomineral…

A fossil specimen of Kylinxia zhangi found in China’s Yunnan province. Photo: Huang and Zeng / Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology / AFP The fossil has three smaller eyes in a row on its head, with two larger eyes directly behind The creature, that lived about 520 million years…

First off, we need to talk about the murder hornet brand. Everything is calibrated perfectly for maximum impact. “Murder hornets.” Short, brutal in meaning and sound — even the cadence is spot on — memorable. Their international release was timed for a year full of misery and stress. Murder hornets…

They don’t call it the diabolical ironclad beetle for nothing: Phloeodes diabolicus, a rugged insect native to western North America, has an almost supernatural ability to resist compression and blunt hits. Now, 3D scans have revealed that layered structures in its interlocking wing cases make the beetle twice as hardy as…

NEW YORK (AP) — It's a beetle that can withstand bird pecks, animal stomps and even being rolled over by a Toyota Camry. Now scientists are studying what the bug’s crush-resistant shell could teach them about designing stronger planes and buildings.“This beetle is super tough," said Purdue University civil engineer…

Home News Crush-resistant elytra — hardened exoskeletal forewings — protect the diabolical ironclad beetle against piercing and crushing predatory strikes. (Image: © David Kisalius) Diabolical ironclad beetles are almost unbreakable — you can smack them, stomp on them or run them over with a car, and they'll scamper away uncrushed.Now,…

It’s dark. Vegetal decay hangs thick in the air, trapped beneath the rotting innards of a felled beech tree. You wedge the hard shell of your exoskeleton through softening pulp, legs clicking in rhythm with each other. Chemosensors on your antennae and mouthparts ping with a steady stream of information,…

Researchers have developed a way for early Mars travelers to build pretty much whatever they need using a fibrous material found on Earth. Chitin, which is found in the shells of sea creatures and insects, can be used to create rigid objects like tools. NASA expects the first crewed Mars…