Mother Nature invented functional gears.

[Mikeybc]

Found this quite interesting.

http://woub.org/2013/09/13/insect-has-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-nature

 

[Grayfox]

Those gears will wear out, they has no lube.

 

[dhandeh]

Manual gears ftw.

 

[Grayfox]

Manual gears ftw.

Even nature hates automatics.

 

[Dean]

Those gears will wear out, they has no lube.

Doesn't bugs sweat?


Really, I don't know.

 

[Danoff]

Even nature hates automatics.

Uh... automatic transmissions have no gears?

It's a fascinating use of gears actually. The insect uses them to prevent the brain from doing the work until adulthood when the brain is ready to handle the load (this is my understanding after skimming the article).

Nature appears to prefer the efficiency of electrically controlled systems by a computer (brain) instead of relying on mechanical systems. That's why the gears are lost when the brain is ready for the job.

 

[niky]

No, the adults still use a passive synchronizing mechanism... only it's an elastic system, like most other hopping insects.

Gears break. That's why adults don't have them... juveniles can use them because they can grow near gears as the molt.

 

[Danoff]

Ah yes. Where did I pull that neural control nonsense from? I did originally notice that the gears break (but can be regrown). I was implying that if it was efficient, adults would regrow them as well. For efficiency, the adults use an alternative method of control (which is where I somehow injected that it was the brain doing the controlling).

 

[niky]

Fascinating though... reminds me of the pistol shrimp... whose cavitation-inducing claw snaps cause a great deal of wear and tear on its claw...

 

[CarBastard]

I'm speechless. It has to be one of the most beautiful things I've seen lately 👍.