Folding mechanism of wings with the smallest insects "Applicable to space development" July 14, 11:15
A group such as Kyushu University announced that it has clarified how the wings of the earwig, the smallest folded insect, are stored. Research that applies the structure of living organisms to science and technology is drawing worldwide attention, and the members of the research group say that this research can be widely applied from space development to daily necessities.
Wide-ranging earwigs nationwide can fold their wings as small as one-fifteenth, but because they are extremely complex, we did not know how to fold them efficiently.
Lecturer Kazuya Saito of the Kyushu University Institute of Art and Engineering and a group such as the Museum of Natural History of Oxford University in England announced that they succeeded in clarifying the design of the wings by analyzing them with X-rays. Did.
According to it, it was found that the "folds" of the wing, which had a fan-like shape and structure, consisted of a relatively simple pattern that radially extended regularly from the center of the fan. is.
Furthermore, it is said that this design method could be applied to different shapes such
as a round shape like a parabolic antenna and
a shape like a wing where two fans are connected side by side.
Also, the principle of folding was almost the same as that of insect fossils about 280 million years ago, the research group said, "It is a very good folding principle that it has been used for many years. It means that.”
The technology that has both robustness and compactness when expanded is also applied to artificial solar panels such as satellites, and Professor Saito said, "In addition to advanced technology, it can be applied to the design of everyday items such as fans and umbrellas." I will.
The results of the research will be published in the bulletin of the American Academy of Sciences, a scientific journal.