If all animal species evacuate their droppings, two researchers have just demonstrated that these periodical cicadas do so more vigorously than their small size suggests. in article Published on March 11, these two researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology wrote that these little creatures emit “high-density puffs.”
You should know that while you are in… Homo sapiens Or in an elephant, urine comes out in the form of a jet. In insects, and in many small creatures, it takes the form of drops. So cicadas have something that sets them apart, besides their sharp calls.
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These periodic cicadas (Magicicada Septuagint) Not to be confused with the annual cicada. “Patrols” in the United States consist of 15 groups or broods, Which does not appear from the Earth except at intervals of 13 or 17 years.
The researchers use fluid mechanics: after all, they are experts in “biomolecular and chemical engineering,” not entomology. At a speed of 3 meters per second, according to them, the strongest urine flow will be, in proportion to the weight of the animal. At least, in animals where we have made an effort to measure this flow.
It is not just to satisfy the curiosity of entomologists that we measure this. After all, there are environmental impacts When trillions of cicadas emerge from the ground within a few weeks, that's the time to find a mate, and then die. And maybe there's something that would interest engineers, Confirms in the New York Times One of the authors is bioengineer Saad Bahmala. “Understanding how animal bodies evolved to solve waste problems could provide new ideas” for the design of anything, in plumbing for example, used to pass liquid.
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