Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have proposed a hypothesis for why insects are so rare in marine environments. They previously showed that insects evolved a unique ...

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a new material that replicates the exceptional strength, toughness, and versatility of one ...

IN a recent communication 1, I provided evidence to show that the permeability of the outer ‘lipoid layer’ of insect cuticle to feebly dissociating substances of high dielectric constant may be ...

Orb-weaver spiders produce fine threads made of nanofibers, arranged like beads on a string with puffs and intermediate zones. The spiders have an organ called a cribellum, which pushes out silk ...

Ch. 1. Friction and adhesion: fundamentals -- Ch. 2. Insect cuticle: structure and properties of the material -- Ch. 3. Cuticular protuberances of insects -- Ch. 4. Principles of cuticular attachment ...

Plants have evolved an impressive range of strategies to ward off hungry, leaf-chomping insects. Well-known defenses include foul-tasting toxins, sticky resins and sharp thorns, and now scientists ...