Alticini,
An Uplifting Story,
bottlenose dolphins,
catapult,
dandelions,
Darwinism,
dolphins,
Evolution,
fish stocks,
flea beetle,
flea beetles,
Francis Collins,
Illustra Media,
infrared cameras,
infrared radiation,
Intelligent Design,
International Society for Photonics and Optics,
Keith Moorad,
killer whales,
leaf beetles,
Lehigh University,
Life Sciences,
Michael Behe,
National Institutes of Health,
night vision goggles,
origami,
parachute,
Pensoft,
PNAS,
toothed whales,
U.S. Navy,
Zookeys
A parade of amazing designs from the living world has passed through these pages over the years, and it shows no sign of stopping. Here are some entertaining examples from recent news. Jump Like a Flea, Beetle Flea beetles, or Alticini, are high-jump champions among the coleopterans (beetles) in the insect world. There are some 9,900 species of flea beetles, a “hyper-diverse group” that inhabits environments from deserts to rainforests all over the world. The Pensoft blog shows a picture of one, saying, “Exceptional catapulting jump mechanism in a tiny beetle could be applied in robotic limbs.” The fascinating and highly efficient jumping mechanism in flea beetles is described in a new research article in the open-access journal Zookeys. Despite having been known since 1929, the explosive jump — which is also the reason behind the colloquial name of this…